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The UK's Brexit secretary David Davis has resigned

AfricanKing

Banned
The Guardian

David Davis has resigned as Brexit secretary, shattering the hard-won consensus around Theresa May’s Chequers deal and plunging her government into crisis.

His resignation was swiftly followed by that of fellow Department for Exiting the EU ministers Steve Baker and Suella Braverman. It forces May to reshuffle her government, at the same time as trying to convince backbenchers to support her plan

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UPDATE!

Boris Johnson has quit as Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson has resigned as foreign secretary, becoming the third minister in 24 hours to walk out of the government rather than back Theresa May’s plans for a soft Brexit.

The prime minister hammered out a compromise with her deeply divided cabinet in an all-day meeting at Chequers on Friday but after consulting friends and allies Johnson decided he could not promote the deal.

Can a mod update the Title to include this aswell.. thanks
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy
Will the pound euro drop or go up?

Honestly my gut is saying they gonna no Brexit at the last minute or do a fudge deal, leaving in name only
 

Typhares

Member
I mean I petitioned for the word clusterfuck to have a new definition: brexit.
Are they that incompetent? Are they doing this on purpose? I dunno but it's embarassing.
 

jdforge

Banned
Enjoying seeing the Conservatives at each others throats over brexit. Let them fight

Thank God Labour aren’t tasked with negotiating Brexit, they’re wholly incompetent and their leadership and party division is beyond embarrassing. They’re doing more than enough damage in opposition though.

Brexit should have been a time for parties to work together to get the absolute best deal for the UK.
 
Thank God Labour aren’t tasked with negotiating Brexit, they’re wholly incompetent and their leadership and party division is beyond embarrassing. They’re doing more than enough damage in opposition though.

Brexit should have been a time for parties to work together to get the absolute best deal for the UK.

Well this is happening today:

So perhaps we will see some cross party cooperation.
 

AfricanKing

Banned
Thank God Labour aren’t tasked with negotiating Brexit, they’re wholly incompetent and their leadership and party division is beyond embarrassing. They’re doing more than enough damage in opposition though.

Brexit should have been a time for parties to work together to get the absolute best deal for the UK.

I still hold true that labour picked the wrong Miliband brother
 

jdforge

Banned
Well this is happening today:

So perhaps we will see some cross party cooperation.


I honestly believe that should have happened right from the start - but I appreciate it would have been difficult.

Fluffing Brexit rather than the country negotiating from a point of solidarity is now a very real and frightening prospect, that we are going to end up in a botched half way house scenario.
 

jdforge

Banned
I still hold true that labour picked the wrong Miliband brother

To be fair I think the other one was far too good looking and a bit flash to be wholesome and has a multitude of skeletons lurking.

Labour would never have been a good choice to lead Brexit negotiations as it goes against their policy. But for the sake of the country they should have got behind The Tories, who themselves should also have been singing off the same hymn sheet - deliver Brexit the will of the people.

We look divided, weak, incompetent and easy picking for the EU negotiators.
 
Hope it proceeds peacefully and with clear heads. Good luck, UK. You were ahead of your time when you pushed for Brexit. Now it's time to finish what you began.
 
It’s all going exactly to plan. The British government have been intentionally weak right from day one. There has never been any real intention to leave the EU from the cabinet, and we will end up with a ‘in name only’ type deal that the EU is happy with. The public will not get what they voted for and it’s essentially the end of democracy in Britain, if it still existed in the first place.

The UK is still one of the worlds strongest countries. It’s ridiculous to suggest that we can’t forge our own path without being tied to these goons. Sure it would be a big change to the system at first and with a lot of work to be done. But very doable. If we no dealed they would soon come running for an arrangement. We are acting like we have no bargaining power and the EU holds all the leverage. It’s nonsense and deliberate shenanigans from our own government.
 

jdforge

Banned
Oh shit. Boris resigning - does this now mark the start of a leadership challenge?

Can May recover from this?
 

lifa-cobex

Member
It’s all going exactly to plan. The British government have been intentionally weak right from day one. There has never been any real intention to leave the EU from the cabinet, and we will end up with a ‘in name only’ type deal that the EU is happy with. The public will not get what they voted for and it’s essentially the end of democracy in Britain, if it still existed in the first place.

The UK is still one of the worlds strongest countries. It’s ridiculous to suggest that we can’t forge our own path without being tied to these goons. Sure it would be a big change to the system at first and with a lot of work to be done. But very doable. If we no dealed they would soon come running for an arrangement. We are acting like we have no bargaining power and the EU holds all the leverage. It’s nonsense and deliberate shenanigans from our own government.

Even when we do get to vote for someone to represent and lead, It's not like we've had good choices to vote for.
I can't really remember feeling that optimistic for whom ever I was voting for. I've only ever voted against someone I didn't want in charge more than the other.
The disconnect from the Government and the people is staggering imo.
 

Ont

Member
The public will not get what they voted for and it’s essentially the end of democracy in Britain, if it still existed in the first place.

The whole point of democracy is that the people we elect to represent us can make the difficult decisions on our behalf. This sometimes means going against the popular opinion. Democracy is not always about people getting what they want. Brexit was always too complex decision to be decided by a stupidly worded referendum and now we are seeing the destruction that referendum created. I have said from the beginning that Brexit is only a massive distraction and a colossal waste of our tax money.

The UK is still one of the worlds strongest countries. It’s ridiculous to suggest that we can’t forge our own path without being tied to these goons. Sure it would be a big change to the system at first and with a lot of work to be done. But very doable. If we no dealed they would soon come running for an arrangement. We are acting like we have no bargaining power and the EU holds all the leverage. It’s nonsense and deliberate shenanigans from our own government.

It is equally ridiculous to suggest that the UK should cut itself off from the biggest market in the world, the one that is right next to our doorstep. You don't like the EU goons? Wait until you are trading under the WTO bureaucrats who are most certainly unelected. Large foreign countries will always prioritize trading with the EU because it is simply the largest trading bloc out there. Right now, UK has the best trade deal it can ever get. When the UK is desperate to form new trading relationships with other countries it simply does not have the leverage that the EU has. The UK has no bargaining power, the other EU countries will still have access to goods, food and medicine from other EU countries should the UK crash out from the EU. Important UK based supply chains and factories can be moved to the continent and some companies will welcome that because it streamlines the logistics.
 
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It’s all going exactly to plan. The British government have been intentionally weak right from day one. There has never been any real intention to leave the EU from the cabinet, and we will end up with a ‘in name only’ type deal that the EU is happy with. The public will not get what they voted for and it’s essentially the end of democracy in Britain, if it still existed in the first place.

The UK is still one of the worlds strongest countries. It’s ridiculous to suggest that we can’t forge our own path without being tied to these goons. Sure it would be a big change to the system at first and with a lot of work to be done. But very doable. If we no dealed they would soon come running for an arrangement. We are acting like we have no bargaining power and the EU holds all the leverage. It’s nonsense and deliberate shenanigans from our own government.


From the perspective of an outsider looking in, I always thought this was the intention anyway. They didn't REALLY want to leave the EU, and are doing everything they can to drag their feet about it. Nobody wants to be the one to actually pull the trigger.
 

Hissing Sid

Member
Oh well, at least Johnson’s grown some balls for a change.

Guess May can enjoy the company of a bunch of yes men from now on, and I for one totally trust the woman who when the country was in dire need of a firm hand at the tiller, decided that Grammar Schools and Fox Hunting were the burning issues of the day.

The soundest of judgments.

Ugh.
 
The British people voted, by majority, to leave the EU. This was done with an official national referendum, not a Twitter opinion poll. A referendum is not technically legally binding, but at the same time democratic governments have to accept the will of the people on major decisions. Otherwise you do not have a democratic country. Of course politicians are employed by the people to handle the more minor decisions. But they work for the people, not for their own benefit.

The UK does hold cards in this battle. Namely a 70 million strong base of 1st world consumers, financial services plus others, and global intelligence / security, the best by far in Europe. These are all things the EU needs. The U.K. is not Poland or Greece with nothing to bargain with. We are a main contributor to the budget.

We should just leave with no deal and get it over with. No divorce bill and full control passed back to the U.K. Then build a new workable relationship when the EU has to admit that they need things from us as much as we do them, if not more. This is the only honourable thing to do now amongst this whole mess so we should just get on with it. Stay in the EU isn’t an option and a good deal for both parties doesn’t seem to be currently workable. So we split clean and then talk business properly when things have settled. The negotiating hasn’t gone well because the British government havn’t had their heart in it, and the EU has taken full advantage of this with their unreasonable demands.
 

Castef

Banned
May is one of the worst politicians I've seen in ages, let alone a prime minister.

Also, UK people voted for brexit: now let UK leave the EU, as soon as possible.

EU is going through troublesome times and the last thing it needs is an indecisive member. The sooner UK leaves, the better.
 

xandaca

Member
That signature is... something else.

Anyway, whole thing's been a fustercluck of bad decisions at the UK end from start to now, so it's not even surprising anymore when everything (re)turns to shit. I don't think a good deal was ever possible, if we can even define what that would look like in realistic terms, but rushing into it without taking the time to form a precise strategy, pull together a team of actual experts, and prepare for the worst just in case, all before triggering Article 50, was a death knell.
 

Ont

Member
The British people voted, by majority, to leave the EU. This was done with an official national referendum, not a Twitter opinion poll.

1) The British people were lied to by an election campaign who also broke the electoral law. Politicians currently in charge of Brexit are still lying about "Brexit dividend" which does not exist.
2) The British people who were living in the other EU member states were not allowed to vote in a referendum which had a huge impact on their lives and the rights which they have under the EU.
3) Permanently UK resident tax paying EU citizens were not allowed to vote.
4) Large number of leave voters have changed their mind since the referendum. Many of them have now been replaced by young voters who overwhelmingly support staying in the EU.
5. No one voting in that referendum really knew what leaving the EU meant in practice. Not even the politicians seemed to understand the difference between the EU and the EEA. Or the functions of Euratom, why that cooperation is so important for the UK.

The UK does hold cards in this battle. Namely a 70 million strong base of 1st world consumers, financial services plus others, and global intelligence / security, the best by far in Europe. These are all things the EU needs. The U.K. is not Poland or Greece with nothing to bargain with. We are a main contributor to the budget.

I really don't think the UK has any cards. I work in financial services in London, and this seems like a perfect opportunity for Paris, Dublin and other EU cities to grab business and talent from London, and this is already happening.

London will no doubt survive Brexit because of the financial services, but hard Brexit would be a catastrophe for the British farmers and any British businesses who sell goods to the EU markets. Any form of Brexit would be devastating to communities outside of London and it would also leave London worse off. It is already hurting the NHS.

And yes, UK has been one of the largest contributors to the budget, but losing those contributions is not a major issue to the EU. It also means no EU farm subsidies, science funding or infrastructure funding for the UK. I do read local news in the other EU countries, and it seems to me that they have already forgotten that the UK is about the leave the EU. It is barely a footnote in the daily conversation.

We should just leave with no deal and get it over with. No divorce bill and full control passed back to the U.K. Then build a new workable relationship when the EU has to admit that they need things from us as much as we do them, if not more. This is the only honourable thing to do now amongst this whole mess so we should just get on with it. Stay in the EU isn’t an option and a good deal for both parties doesn’t seem to be currently workable. So we split clean and then talk business properly when things have settled. The negotiating hasn’t gone well because the British government havn’t had their heart in it, and the EU has taken full advantage of this with their unreasonable demands.

I am not sure if anyone proposing leaving without a deal in place fully understands the potential repercussions or how destructive that event would be.
 
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Enygger_Tzu

Banned
I am not sure if anyone proposing leaving without a deal in place fully understands the potential repercussions or how destructive that event would be.

It must be reminded to people that the same thing was said about the actual Brexit vote. And from what we saw, it did not worked that way.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
I think this is all heading for a no deal 'hard' Brexit.

The EU are unlikely to just accept Mays proposal and there will have to be more consecsions for a deal to be reached. I expect that if any more concessions are made then there will be further resignations and Mays position will be impossible. The eventual result will be the UK leaving without any kind of deal which shouldn't be a surprise considering what a shambles it's been so far.
 

Atrus

Gold Member
For plenty of people this drama has gone on for far too long.

What we see now is that there never was any genuine plan for Brexit, and as such no referendum should have been held on that issue.

First come up with an exit plan, then decide on the exit ffs. This is right up there with political parties with secret, undisclosable platforms during elections for gratuitous stupidity.

Shame on the Simpson-esque voters who don’t expect better.
 

gohepcat

Banned
The British people voted to collectively shoot themselves in the head and you are surprised that you are having trouble finding people to help with this process?
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
The British people voted to collectively shoot themselves in the head and you are surprised that you are having trouble finding people to help with this process?
I voted to remain. I call bullshit. I moved to France so I’m gonna stay here. Raaaas
 
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