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Brexit? Done! Post-Brexit EU Trade Deal? Done! Tying-off Remaining Odds & Ends? Erm…
1653-days after the UK held a referendum giving Britons their first opportunity to vote on EU membership, the Conservative government of the United Kingdom has succeeded in Brexiting from the European Union and agreeing a basic free trade deal allowing mostly uninterrupted trade to continue between the two European neighbours.
While the timeframe (4.5-years!) seems a long time, keep in mind that it takes two to tango and that the EU seemingly did everything in its power to delay Brexit and a post-Brexit trade deal, and it only relented when British politicians showed the strength and resolve to get the job done.
Very noteworthy is that every time the UK government seemed to dither or lose confidence, the EU quickly ramped-up their effort to quash Brexit and the post-Brexit trade deal that followed-on a year later.
“Every day we teach others how to treat us.”
Indeed! Therefore, European Union leaders have taught United Kingdom leaders to firmly and resolutely pursue all future goals with the EU and to never, ever, show weakness or indecision.
I hope that lesson has been learned by UK politicians. If it hasn’t, someone has been busy studying far less important matters.
As Expected, There Have Been Some Delays at the Ports
Of course, this was expected. How could it not occur when both sides spent 4.5-years bickering, rather than solving problems?
But, you get what you pay for.
Perhaps if we paid UK Parliamentarians double the remuneration we do now, we’d be twice as happy with them? Hmmm…
Minor gripes aside, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gotten the job done — and that, in the middle of an unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic! Well done, Boris!
Yes, some minor adjustments will be required. It’s been reported by the BBC that some Northern Ireland shipments have been turned back or refused, and UK residents will face more paperwork than ever if they want to visit the EU, especially if they want to bring their pets along.
In summary, the whole process could’ve been smoother, faster and more complete. But aside from the few things to be worked out, Brexit and its follow-on trade deal with the EU has been delivered as promised by the Prime Minister and his government.
Hearty Congratulations to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to his Conservative Party, and to other Brexit Supporting UK Parliamentarians!
Rather than suffering a failure of statecraft, the leaders of the United Kingdom and the European Union got the job done in the middle of a massive COVID-19 pandemic and they deserve a huge round of applause and our undying gratitude!
Finally, the UK can begin to maximize its opportunities and again become a full partner in the world community of nations.
Finally, the UK can forge its own trade deals with other countries and blocs.
Finally, the UK can design its own foreign policy to benefit the interests of the United Kingdom and its people.
Finally, the UK can create its own domestic policies to benefit Britons and visitors to the United Kingdom.
Finally, the UK can renew and re-energize its relationships with the other Commonwealth of Nations countries.
And the UK can begin to concentrate on what works best for itself and its people, instead of having to clear everything with a foreign power, first.
Even while we’re still under the shadow of the horrible Coronavirus pandemic, its clear to see that the UK’s future is going to be bright and prosperous. Just give it a few months and we’ll see a reinvigorated country — one that no longer hesitates to reach for better and produce better than ever!
Now the UK can Get On With Building a Better Britain!
Now that the EU restraints have been cast-off, the UK will have a free hand to solve its domestic and foreign issues, and to become all that it can and should be.
Brexit has occupied 4.5-years of time and effort, and there was precious little oxygen left in the room to discuss other matters needing attention.
First on the list must be to complete the campaign to eradicate COVID-19 from the United Kingdom, to further assist both individual Britons and those businesses hurtfully impacted by Coronavirus, and to reset the economy when it is safe to do so.
Second, the UK needs to level-up the incomes of those stuck in the bottom economic quintile — thereby ending homelessness in the UK. Maybe the government will create a programme to pay unemployed Britons a minimum wage (or better!) to plant 1-billion trees per year in the UK, neatly solving three problems at once; Homelessness, Unemployment, and helping the UK to meet its CO2 Reduction Targets via their natural photosynthetic process whereby trees store carbon for up to 500-years, in the case of oak trees.
Third, the UK needs to put a major push to become a major exporting country like Germany. I can hardly wait for that! However, it is inappropriate to spend money, time and effort on this in the middle of a major Coronavirus pandemic.
Fourth, the UK needs to finish the many projects still on the books — like HS2 and others. But closely following those projects should be a plan to reclaim 100-square miles from the sea surrounding the UK, annually. In a country of 68-million (as of last week) all the existing land will soon be spoken-for, and thankfully, much of the sea surrounding Great Britain is shallow and therefore perfect to build-up and fill. Beside the obvious benefit, is that seawalls at 40-feet above the high tide mark will build resiliency into the UK’s shorelines with easily available rock and gravel/soil. Doing so at-scale means creating half a million good-paying jobs and building dozens of scenic golf resorts and hotels, thousands of seaside homes, and themed communities to support them.
And that’s just the beginning of the benefits of Brexit, folks!
Thank you again to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to government negotiators, to the UK Cabinet, and to all MP’s and Lords who followed the instructions of Britons and voted for Brexit and a post-Brexit trade deal! Well done!
Written by John Brian Shannon
Will there be a UK/EU Trade Deal?
One would hope there will be a UK/EU trade deal signed by 2021, but there’s no reason good enough to give away the entire country as a way to obtain a trade deal — a deal that should be as important to the EU as it is to Britain.
The EU mindset seems to be to stridently ask for everything and if the Brits are incompetent enough to grant everything, then the EU won’t mind taking it.
But it seems that every time the UK government stands up for UK business and for Britons, the cries of being treated unfairly reach another record-setting crescendo.
Listen to the rhetoric that the EU side is using to force the UK to agree to their terms:
“The UK needs to take “significant steps” in the coming days to secure a trade deal with the EU, the European Council president said.”
“Charles Michel said talks were approaching a “moment of truth” ahead of a crucial EU summit…”
“The Irish PM, Micheál Martin said “movement” was required before “end-state negotiations”…”
“…Mr Michel said… the UK side needed to take “significant steps”…”
“The coming days are crucial,” he added.” — Excerpts from BBC
There’s nothing like putting all the pressure on the UK side hoping they panic and agree to sign everything away at the last minute! That’s obviously the EU tactic here.
The EU (so far) has Taught the UK that Polite Diplomacy Doesn’t Work
“Everyday, we teach others how to treat us.”
The UK side has played the entire Brexit thing very politely. In fact, too politely.
Former British Prime Minister Theresa May flew to Brussels dozens of times (often on very short notice) with no way to prepare as she wasn’t always told what was to be discussed — only to return later that day, disappointed, frustrated, empty-handed and beat-up after listening to another EU browbeating.
On top of all that, she was forced to face the then-cowed UK Parliament (not all of them, but enough to add more misery to her day) and face the then mostly pro-EU media.
She deserved better than she got.
I still feel sorry for Theresa May who was the UK’s diplomatic champion yet got nothing but disrespect from all sides. She deserves an OBE for her perseverance and for displaying almost superhuman goodwill towards the Inquisition panel over in Brussels.
Now we have Prime Minister Boris Johnson fighting for the UK and with a very capable team. Good luck, Boris! You’re going to need it.
More than anything else, were I advising UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, I would suggest he hire several of the UK’s best psychologists to explain to Boris and his team what is going on in the EU heads.
And I’m happy to inform you as to what those psychologists might say…
‘Mr. Johnson, there’s no agreement that will ever be good enough for the EU. They are suffering because their best example of what the EU is trying to attract to their bloc decided to leave and they are embarrassed and upset. And to add further pain, the UK was their 2nd-best economic contributor to the European Union annual budget.’
‘Nothing you can offer them Boris, will ever be good enough, no matter what! Therefore, trying to give them a sweet deal on fishing rights, automobile trade, energy, or anything else in an attempt to soothe their hurt feelings represents the worst kind of political folly.’
‘Therefore, please walk away Boris if they’re going to put a higher priority on their bad mood than on their future relationship with the UK and The Commonwealth of Nations.’
Let ourselves never fall into the trap the EU has set for itself.
The UK is Again an Independent Nation, So Stay Out of Our Internal Politics!
It didn’t take even one full day(!) following the official Brexit date before EU politicians and former EC politicians began sticking their feet in their mouths by commenting on the internal politics of an independent nation called the United Kingdom — and this is in regards to the Scottish politician Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) who wants to separate Scotland from the UK (which, such referenda have never succeeded in the over 200-years that Scotland has been a member of the United Kingdom) and such referenda will never succeed it seems — if the people of Scotland continue to get their way on the matter.
Because every time there’s been a democratically held Scottish referendum it’s failed miserably thanks to Scot voters — and that, after much gamesmanship by those pushing their separatist garbage.
Yet, these are the same people who demand the utmost respect for the European Union project throughout the global body politic and among the world’s media.
Their gall is quite astonishing!
Imagine what the EU response would be if America, China, India or Japan began opining on some of the internal affairs of the European Union, let alone if a number of senior politicians in those countries were engaged in trying to break-up the European Union!
(EU) People Who Live in Glass Houses Shouldn’t be Throwing Stones
We have the situation in Catalonia where the leaders of that longstanding autonomous region who represent over half of the population there, were jailed or forced to flee to Germany after the Spanish government used police and security forces to brutally put down the peaceful and popular movement in Catalonia to become a fully autonomous state within Europe — a movement which was massively approved by Catalonian voters in a democratically held referendum overseen by official election monitors from around the world and the EU.
If heads of state of EU countries, former EC presidents, and presently serving MEP’s in the EU Parliament are going to comment on the internal affairs of the United Kingdom (which is now, again, an independent country) then, it seems fair game that the UK government and media, and indeed all governments and world media, should feel free to report on everything that’s occurred in Catalonia since 1962. And that’s a very big story which has yet to see the light of day.
But it would make a fascinating documentary series showing how continental Europe supports freedom and democracy and a people’s right to self-determination in every continent — except on the EU continent!
Ouch! It must hurt when people catch you out like that, doesn’t it? And there’s more…
Should the UK and Other Countries Accept Today’s Implied Invitation by (former EC president) Donald Tusk, (Irish Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar, (EU MEP) Guy Verhofstadt and other EU politicians, to Engage in Some Reciprocity by Fanning the Flames of Separatist Movements Within the EU?
For many decades, Basque separatists have been waging a campaign against both Spain and France as the Basque people apparently want their own country within Europe and (unfortunately and reportedly) may have resorted to terrorist actions (at least, that’s what the media has reported, but to travel there, you’d never know it as it’s a very restful and peaceful part of the world) and again, brutal police and paramilitary clampdowns became the norm in the Basque region going all the way back to WWII.
Similarly, in Greece, where several sides within Europe attempted to ‘own’ Greece via economic and other means over the past 25-years (by lending the Greek government far more money than they could ever repay, for one example) and only the united power of economist and former Greek Minister of Finance, Ioannis “Yanis” Varoufakis and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were able to (mostly) counter the silent takeover of Greece by certain EU political parties, institutions, financiers, etc., — official and otherwise.
We could also discuss the situation in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been waging a lonely battle against the EU autocracy since 2010 to maintain reasonable levels of immigration into his country and to retain Hungarian sovereignty vis-à-vis the overarching EU culture that wants to subsume the will of individual countries (especially small member countries) in favour of the EU’s better way — the “just eat it, it’s good for you!” mentality of dealing with member states.
And in France, millions of people have donned yellow vests (the so-called “yellow vest movement”) to protest high levels of taxation, which taxation is seen not only as punitive, but also (reportedly) targets groups, unions, certain segments of the French economy, and even individuals who aren’t toeing the government line.
There’s also the EU budget allotment procedure that rewards member governments that are compliant with EU diktats with generous funding and punishes those EU member nations that try to maintain control over key areas of their own economies as guaranteed by EU treaty.
It seems the EU people are the sweetest people in the world — but only when they’re getting their own way.
And that isn’t a way forward in the 21st-century, folks. That won’t fly. The entire world will join forces to stop you from again turning into the world’s bully (and that would be the 3rd-time we’d need to stop you from yourselves) within a 107-year timespan.
It’s time to grow-up kids and accept that life is a series of compromises and that you don’t always get your way.
It’s Astonishing that the Two Jurisdictions that Benefit the Most from the UK… Want to Sabotage that Relationship!
The Republic of Ireland economy would go into complete meltdown should the UK cease trading with it, as almost half its output is purchased by UK consumers. And it’s not like the EU is interested in buying Ireland’s goods, or they’d be buying it already! (Duh!)
Likewise with Scotland. Some 4/5ths of Scotland’s trade is courtesy of the UK, and English taxpayers have subsidized Scotland’s economy with many billions of pounds sterling (that’s English taxpayer money!) since 1800.
Are These People Monsters Or Do They Simply Not Get It?
What kind of people would kick English taxpayers in the teeth by trying to break-up the United Kingdom, just so they can score some cheap political points and not feel quite as embarrassed about the UK’s departure from the European Union?
Really, these people are a threat to their own economies specifically, and to stability in the Western Hemisphere, generally.
Maybe have a word with them at the next election (Irish and Scottish voters) because if you re-elect them you’re practically guaranteeing that trade with England will be cut off forever and your passports will never again be valid in God’s country — the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
But if that’s what you want… Good Riddance!
We’ll save the billions we spend to subsidize you and purchase from America and the Commonwealth, instead of from (the then) bankrupt Republic of Ireland, and instead of from (the then) bankrupt Scotland.
With ‘friends’ like you, who needs enemies?
Scotland’s SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon must be the funniest person on Earth — because 4/5ths of Scotland’s trade comes courtesy of the United Kingdom — and British taxpayers subsidize the Scottish economy with billions of pounds sterling every year — and she wants to take Scotland out of the United Kingdom! Yet every time Scotland has a (supposedly, once-in-a-lifetime) referendum on Scottish independence from the UK, Scottish residents vote against her Monty Python-esque plan. Check yer meds, woman, or we’ll nominate you to lead The Ministry of Funny Talks! Image courtesy of BBC.com
Letter to Britain 