Wish we could put that genie back in the bottle, but i can't see it being in any way beneficial for the UK after the bridge burning that was Brexit.
Only chance of it is if the Ukraine / Russia nightmare starts making having the UK more appetising for the EU, especially France, there is absolutely no way France let the UK back in after their wins from our exit, or let us join in any real way where we can side with the Germans to outvote the French.
This popped up on my FB. No idea what the text was but the headline is certainly interesting.
Reads like a Brexiteer who has pretty much given up on ac**** of the incompetence of those in power.
Indeed, the clock has totally run down on what were always half-baked efforts to set out a tangible long-term vision for Britain post-Brexit. And a Westminster system still dominated by people who were never all that enthused about leaving the EU in the first place is only partly to blame. The grave reality is that even those ostensibly committed to making the most of our new freedoms never really worked out how to do so.
Brexit has led to a shortfall of 330,000 people in the UK labour force, mostly in the low-skilled economy, a report by leading researchers has found.
its wrecked the scottish tourism industry that used to rely on young europeans on gap years in the main as seasonal workers
That Telegraph headline is interesting, I also heard another interesting take on it. That if Labour don't pick it up, given there is undoubtedly a trend in a lot of the UK towards closer EU ties then the Tories may have to to chase votes and minimise the deficit they currently face in polling. But clearly they can't because it would rip the Tory party apart even further than they are. Damned if they do......and labour can just leave it there like a trap.
What the otherjonv said
Brexit not delivering a single thing promised has the brexiteers very scared
Eg
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/17/britishvolt-expected-enter-administration-tuesday
It's almost as though SKS isn't as daft as some think or would like him to be.
BritishVolt is yet another example of short sighted Britian not committing to something properly, and just dabbling. Meanwhile the Swedes have it sorted and are in production with ties to several big brands.
(Like nuclear power, the water network, manufacturing in general, health care, etc etc).
Britain is going the same half arsed not really interested route into hydrogen based power / exonomy. We're getting left behind AGAIN.
End aggressive divergence, begin the slow careful rebuilding with the EU/EEA, if we can regain trust enough to get them to put the effort in with us. Most of the country will have landed there by the time the election comes. The “rejoin now” fantasists and “more harder Brexit is the answer” denialists will be on the fringes. It’s not that Labour are being smart about public opinion, it’s that they’ve accepted the reality of where the UK is now, and that penny will drop soon for most people. The journey now is a long one… the wasted years that even Cameron’s government understood and warned us all about with their pre-referendum leaflet drop. Effectively being in the SM/CU will come, but it’s a long way off. And the more we let the Tories carry out their plans, the more there will be to do… and remember we’ll need cooperation from those the Tories are actively pushing away in “our name”.
On battery production and the like: USA is using the transition to green energy to invest in their manufacturing base… as are other European countries… and the EU itself are catching up… the UK will HAVE to do the same. Labour’s plans in this area will just been seen as accepting the norm by the time they get a chance to start implementing them.
It’s almost as though SKS isn’t as daft as some think or would like him to be.
How's that then? SKS becomes a Brexit apologist and rules out CU/SM just as the majority of the voting public wake up to the fact that there is no upside to Brexit and that closer ties with the EU would be a good thing, even rejoining. He's a lot dafter than I initially took him for.
Britishvolt was a scheme to extract government funding. Their only asset is planning permission to build a factory. They haven’t built a battery yet. Calling them a battery maker is disingenuous.
CU/SM can’t come soon enough. When the Torygraph stats to call for it then there is no other pathway. The narrative will be how the politicians blew the golden Brexit opportunity they had for dogmatic reasons bowing to a minority in a disgraced excuse for a Tory party.
As the government, civil service, businesses and workers all have so much time on their hands... nothing to do... nothing else to deal with... it's time to cause some fresh aimless benefit free chaos and divergence...
Parliamentary Bills : Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill
FT : What is the UK’s Retained EU Law Bill and why is it so controversial?
Back in the House of Commons today.
Get ready for the waving away of concerns about Northern Ireland, democratic oversight, environmental protection, workers rights...
It’s not public opinion that counts, sadly. It’s the opinion of the swing voters in marginals.
Which swing seats are we talking about here?
The problem with the swing seats mantra is seats change
Especially when you spend all your time just chasing those swing seats so your previously core voters recognise you dont care about them and go elsewhere.
Its a good trick but relies on people not getting disillusioned and looking for an alternative.
However bad.
SKS becomes a Brexit apologist and rules out CU/SM
You know he's not going to be in power forever, right? He's not ruling out the Labour party ever doing it....
Spain will have something to say about that. They desperately don’t want Scotland to join the EU as an independent country for obvious reasons.
Mate, if you're still believing this bollox, I've a bridge to sell.
Britishvolt was a scheme to extract government funding. Their only asset is planning permission to build a factory. They haven’t built a battery yet. Calling them a battery maker is disingenuous.
100% agree and it was obvious from the minute they came on the scene - basically a foreign 'entrepreneur' who saw a Govt that liked headlines and that he reckoned would finance him. How much of our money did he actually get?
Britishvolt was a scheme to extract government funding. Their only asset is planning permission to build a factory. They haven’t built a battery yet. Calling them a battery maker is disingenuous.
This. I live in the area and all they have is a big brown field, 100s of people doing nothing as far as anyone could tell and a bag of magic beans which they were definitely going to plant to make a magic battery factory as soon as the gov' coughed up £30m to buy the spade they needed.
So alot like brexit in many ways.
Probably less than the Welsh Tidal barrage.
Putting this here as it was part of the debate on Britishvolt… a rare chance to cheer for a Tory… and one in government at that!
https://twitter.com/haggis_uk/status/1615699681195233282?s=21
Britishvolt was a scheme to extract government funding. Their only asset is planning permission to build a factory. They haven’t built a battery yet. Calling them a battery maker is disingenuous.
It all sounds very....
It all sounds very….
To be fair, he did build probably the most iconic car ever made!
...As opposed to iconic batteries which have never materialized. BritishVolt secured £100mn of funding from a government looking for positive headlines post Brexit. Their aim was to build a £3800mn factory, so that gives you some idea of the snake oil they were peddling for investment. The FT comments section has been withering.
Seemed an obvious scam/speculation. Think I read that the govt says no public money was handed over as it was contingent on other funding being found.
It just looks like the classic pass the parcel, a bit like what happened at Rover, come in with an idea, get government funding, then other funding comes in from that, use some of the funding to look serious, then make sure you get out with a sackful of money via payments, shell games, etc and leave it to fail under someone else's term.
The main benefit here is the government department were a bit smarter than usual, and that there are potentially others looking at growing this idea.
tjagain
Full Memberits wrecked the scottish tourism industry that used to rely on young europeans on gap years in the main as seasonal workers
I was in the lake district when the vote happened... Listening to an english bar manager crowing about it, and apparently not realising all her staff were eu workers, was like that bit at the start of Casualty where you see the bus full of singing nuns driving towards the truck full of acid and metal spikes.
TBF I think cheap holidays and flights abroad, with a significantly higher chance of good weather wrecked the UK holiday industry a long time before brexit. Writing as someone who grew up in a former Victorian seaside resort. It was only ever on it's arse or a 'bit' better.
Scotland made a lot of money off tourism. the problem is now that many tourism business cannot get seasonal staff any more. Kitchens close weekdays, bars closing early or only part time hours, etc etc Tourism was booming up here. Its even caused issues in Edinburgh. In the highlands its worse.
its obvious how much damage this has caused.
TBF I think cheap holidays and flights abroad, with a significantly higher chance of good weather wrecked the UK holiday industry a long time before brexit.
I think that happened in the 80s and 90s, however my experience of holidaying here suggests that things started to get better from the 2000s on. Certainly in Wales money has been invested in tourist facilities - nice restaurants, cafes, hotels, pubs, glamping sites etc. Places that were scruffy functional rural towns are now quite nice places to spend time and money. That's what Brexit has affected.
+1 molgrips.
The Britain we returned to in 2013 felt very different from the one we left in 2001. But 10 years of Tory and it’s all gone to shit.
Does everything always go to shit under Tories? Has there ever been a Tory govt that made the country a better place overall?
No
the tories exist for one reason only - to concentrate power and wealth i the hands of the already powerful and wealthy
I'l qualify that a little in that the "one nation" tories felt they had a paternalistic duty to look after the poor but still kept the power while throwing a few crumbs down for the poor.
A little more fairly - I think that Tories generally believe that a freer world is better, that we should be allowed to do as we please, and build businesses as we please without being forced to hand money over to a government; that we shouldn't make excuses for mediocrity and you should be responsible for your own success or failure. Which sounds nice, but 5 minutes of intelligent thought should reveal that the human cost of such an ideal is utterly tragic. And 30 years of Tory rule proves it.
I have a decent and kind sister in law who is conservative and believes in that ideal, but she doesn't understand and cannot be told that life simply doesn't work that way.
Got to agree with molgrips (and others). The idea that if everyone works equally hard they will get an equally good outcome just ignores all the evidence, but feels good somehow. I think that is the message that people who really understand that they can misuse it feed to everyone else so they can keep abusing
I don't accept that. Thats the lie they sell and it cons some folk but even if it were true the effect? To concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the powerful and wealthy.
I'm sure a lot of them genuinely believe their dogma, but it has all the trappings of a cult impervious from reason. After a decade of failure their only response seems to be that we need to believe harder, whether it's the Brexit disaster or the NHS folding or the Truss budget car crash. Failure is due to a conspiracy of woke lefty remainer lawyers (and in the latter case, that apparently includes the City of London financial markets). The only way to solve the problems caused by the last 10 years of Tory is another 5 years of Tory!
I’m sure a lot of them genuinely believe their dogma
I would agree - but its a mechanism for concentrating power and wealth in the hands of the powerful and wealthy. Its just the "big lie" and its conned a lot of people
the problem is now that many tourism business cannot get seasonal staff any more
We were in Devon last summer and a pub had a sign outside wanting a chef..."no experience necessary".
Needless to say we took our custom elsewhere.
we shouldn’t make excuses for mediocrity and you should be responsible for your own success or failure.
if they actually lived that creed, we’d not be in the mess we are now. They’re the poster kids for mediocrity.
Has there ever been a Tory govt that made the country a better place overall?
If you mean England then I venture Edward Heath who brought EU membership and decimalisation, lost to the unions, rationalised local government, disagreed with what Thatcher wanted... . If you are Scottish, Welsh or an Irish republican you might not make the same judgement.
I don’t accept that. Thats the lie they sell and it cons some folk but even if it were true the effect? To concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the powerful and wealthy.
Oh yeah I'm not sticking up for Tories, hell no. What I'm saying is that some people do want to do good for the country, and they think that conservatism is how to do it. They are dead wrong, usually because they just don't understand the issues, but they aren't mendacious. In fact they can be very naive. They think that hard work brings success; that rich people deserve their success and that poor people must've done something wrong. Poor people just need to try harder, they say. But it's just not true.
Other Tories are nasty though. And I couldn't tell you what the ratio is...
Yup. The basic premise is a lie but some folk are (willingly??) conned into believing it.
Another brexit bonus. A pal of mine runs a bespoke high end clothing company - its a small company. She is of European nationality. She recently had an appearance on TV in her home country. As a result she got some provisional orders from that country. She could not fill those orders because of the costs of importing into that country single bespoke items. Her already high prices would have to increase by at least 50% to maintain any profit margin. Thus in actual fact when those who had ordered found out the price no firm orders came thru.
So not only has she had to go thru expensive and time consuming bureaucratic hoops to get residence here but brexit has cost her company many thousands of pounds in foregone profits. Enough to have perhaps employed another person
Pre brexit the items would have sold there for the same price as here.A not unusual story but one close to me
Global Britain…just not the bit nearest to us.
The basic premise is a lie but some folk are (willingly??) conned into believing it.
Or it's just naivety. It seems reasonable, until you learn that people aren't simple machines, that success isn't how much money you make, and you then start to think about what should a government be for?
And we’ve still got the best to come
At the end of the year Rees Moggs absolutely unhinged ‘Retained EU Laws Bill’ comes in.
The Brexiters are getting their bonfire of EU law – and democracy will lie in the ashes
This is where loads and loads of the things we all take for granted will simply cease to exist
This is the real reason for Brexit. This is what they wanted all along. They get to torch workers rights, food standards, environmental controls and pretty much everything else they don’t like, all literally overnight
And if business thinks it’s got problems now, just wait until this shit happens. It’s going to cause absolute carnage! With nobody knowing which standards will still apply and which won’t (even Whitehall departments haven’t really got a clue)
We are about to be Guinea Pigs in a huge experiment the likes of which nobody has ever conducted before.
A country is about to tear up half its laws (even in government, nobody actually knows how many) and just see what happens
Clue: nothing good, that’s for sure
The disaster capitalists are licking their lips in anticipation and most people (particularly the ****s who voted for it) are gleefully unaware of the chaos that is about to be unleashed
