Brexit January 2020

[Albert Davis]

Update Daily Brexit News...................

The UK is on the verge of a "new chapter" in its history, Boris Johnson has said, as he promised to "finish the job" by delivering Brexit within weeks.

In his new year message, the prime minister said he hoped the country would "move forward united" after it leaves the EU on 31 January.
He vowed to govern "for everyone", not just those who backed him at the polls. And he said he wanted more prosperity and fairer opportunity to be the hallmarks of a "remarkable" new decade.
Boosting resources for the NHS, improving the UK's infrastructure, tackling violent crime and protecting the environment were among his government's other main priorities for the year ahead, he said.

[Albert Davis]

Brexit and EU enlargement will be priorities during Croatia's six-month presidency of the bloc, Foreign Minister Goran Grlic Radman said Wednesday.

Croatia, the youngest European Union member, has a "lot of work and an important task that we have to do in the best possible way in the interest of all EU members, first of all organization of the relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom," Grlic Radman said.

[Albert Davis]

PM's Senior Aide Dominic Cummings Calls For Civil Service Changes


The PM's senior adviser has called for changes to how government works, saying there are "profound problems" with how decisions are made.
In a blog post, Dominic Cummings said the civil service lacked people with "deep expertise in specific fields".
He said he wanted "weirdos and misfits with odd skills" to apply to work in Downing Street.
But a civil servants' union said the recruitment of experts had been hampered by "pay restraint".

[Albert Davis]

Brexit News


With Brexit now certain to become reality, the UK as we know is sure to undergo significant transformations. On the political front, the recent British elections exemplified a clear split in British society. Although the pro-Brexit Conservative Party of Boris Johnson won the day, the anti-Brexit camp remains considerable but divided. Take the example of Scotland where the anti-Brexit Scottish National Party won by a landslide. This potentially sets up another Scottish referendum.
Then, while Johnson has negotiated a new Brexit arrangement for Northern Ireland, the effectiveness of the plan to prevent a hard border between the British Irish territory and the Republic of Ireland is yet to be tested. What all of this means is that psychologically the UK is no longer one entity. Brexit has fundamentally challenged Britain’s projection of itself in the world. UK can no longer claim to be a champion of liberal values as Brexit was primarily driven by a desire to keep out foreigners and take back control of immigration and UK’s borders.

[Albert Davis]

New year, New Deal And What it Means For NI



The UK will have legally left the EU, but will immediately begin a transition period.
All parts of the UK will continue to follow EU rules and contribute to the EU budget. The trading relationship between the EU and UK will be unchanged during this period.

After Brexit, Northern Ireland will be outside the EU while the Republic of Ireland will remain inside.

But the UK and EU agreed this should not lead to new checks or controls on goods crossing the border between the two parts of Ireland.
To achieve this Northern Ireland will continue to follow EU rules on agricultural and manufactured goods, while the rest of the UK will not.
Additionally, the whole of the UK will leave the EU's customs union but Northern Ireland will continue to enforce the EU's customs code at its ports. This will all mean some new checks and processes for goods moving between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.

[Albert Davis]

Boris Johnson to open trade talks with Ursula von der Leyen


Boris Johnson will host the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, in Downing Street this week as he prepares to take Britain out of the EU at the end of this month, kicking off a race against time to secure a free trade deal.

The prime minister will use the comfortable majority he won at last month’s general election to press his Brexit bill through the House of Commons in three days when MPs return to Westminster on Tuesday.

He is expected to use his meeting with Von Der Leyen to underscore the government’s determination not to extend the transition period, which will mean the UK remains subject to many EU rules and structures until the end of December.

[Albert Davis]

MPs to resume scrutiny of PM's withdrawal deal


MPs will resume scrutiny later of the legislation needed to implement the prime minister's Brexit deal.

Boris Johnson's election victory means the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is set to get through Parliament comfortably, MPs having overwhelmingly backed it at its first stage last month.

The bill covers "divorce" payments to the EU, citizens' rights and customs arrangements for Northern Ireland.
The UK is set to leave the EU on 31 January.

[Albert Davis]

Johnson to tell EU chief that trade deal won't be based on 'alignment'


Labour MPs are currently listening to candidates for the deputy leadership speak at a private hustings organized by the parliamentary Labour party (PLP). One of the candidates is Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, and according to extracts from his speech released by his office, he is saying that he would like to be a campaigning deputy leader in the style of John Prescott.

[Albert Davis]

Why Brexit Stage Two may turn into a rocky ride




"Only as true friends can, I want to be very honest about what lies ahead of us." The words of the new European Commission president as she headed to Downing Street and her first face-to-face meeting with Boris Johnson on Wednesday.

What lies ahead of the EU and UK might, on the surface, appear relatively straightforward.
By the end of this month, both the European and the UK parliaments will have ratified a negotiated divorce deal. As of 1 February, the UK will no longer be an EU member and by the year's end, says Boris Johnson, an ambitious new trade deal will have been negotiated and signed off by both sides.

[Albert Davis]

How people reacted to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal being passed by MPs



Last night, Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was finally passed by MPs by 330 votes to 231.

After the result, anti-Brexit activists took to Twitter to react to our country being royally shafted by the Tories.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron had a very, erm, unique way of describing our political mess – responding to a tweet from Brexiteer Tom Harwood.