UK Politics Thread (Part 1)

I think this is genuinely bizarre. Surely this is not representative of Labour voters?..

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:laughing:

Hereā€™s Starmerā€™s thoughts this morning. First 5 minutes of the attached video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QehGpDv9L1Q

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I havenā€™t been following this stuff either however I donā€™t see where morales comes into it (except of course the UK threatening to break international law).
I think that the EU set out itā€™s goal posts and hasnā€™t flinched from that. The UK on the other hand has changed their goal posts a number of times which of course is their sovereign right.
We are just in the classic situation where the UK has changed itā€™s goal posts and the EU are playing for time to adjust to this whilst the UK take full advantage of this ā€˜lullā€™ to portray the EU as bad guys (after being seen as the bad guys just weeks before).
What I do note is that time is running out to get a very complex deal sorted. Which brings me to the conclusion that perhaps both sides have come to the conclusion there will be no deal in place in time.
That doesnā€™t mean there will never be a deal however I always thought this would be the easier course i.e negociating a deal after the UK has left (which really does point to many years being wasted).
I am sure the EU will set out a reply, eventually. :upside_down_face:

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We have left. The transition period is there to address future trade agreements with the EU. The UK government decided the length of the transition period and Boris in his wisdom (wanting to win an election in reality) decided 12 months would be enough.

We must also remember that the UK has faffed about during this period and only really started to become serious in the last few weeks. I am honestly undecided if they want a deal or not. There are certainly factions within the Tory party that dont want any connection to the EU but how widespread that is and how this fits with Johnson is another matter. I suspect heā€™ll do whatever it takes to keep him in the post

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I donā€™t know what changed for the UK due to the transition period but nothing changed for me (and thatā€™s what counts). It will change after the 31 dec however I will no longer be considered an EU citizen and my rights will change dramatically.
So the UK have left in word only during the ā€˜transistion periodā€™ as far as I am concerned.
What has transitioned so far? :crazy_face:

Nothing, and nothing will change until the 1/1/21. But I take your point but we are still bound by EU rules during the transition period.

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Gotta say, the commentary on twitter from genuine trade and legal experts in response to Johnson addressing the commons does highlight how these technical trade issues are simply beyond the grasp of the majority of voters.

To further muddy the waters there are many commentators who are experts in their field but favour one side or the other to the extent that their commentary cannot be automatically seen as impartial. How people alighting on their tweets would be able to discern this, without any former awareness of their potential leanings, escapes me.

So difficult to know who is genuinely objective and then, of course, you may dismiss as biased an actually fair assessment from someone with a history of leaning one way or another.

You almost end up having to develop your own expertise to judge for yourself. Whoā€™s got the time to do that?!

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I think you should volunteer after reviewing the CAS decision on Citeh, followed by rewriting FFP rules and directing Edwards on the transfer of Thiago.

Ha! I still havenā€™t read all of the CAS judgment!

Some pearlers from the opposition benches though. Starmer will be sorry he missed thisā€¦

:rofl:

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brutal

But lord man, pull your finger out. Iā€™m hoping for a UEFA appeal or a whole fresh case in 6 months.

Yes, there are those on the left who have been openly campaigning against Starmer since before he actually won the leadership contest. Since day one there has been a deliberate refusal to give him any positive attention and instead blame him for not having labour ahead in the polls. The funny thing is that the polls they often quote do have Starmer ahead of Johnsonā€¦which may indicate the problem is with the group calling for Starmer to go.

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I havenā€™t seen any genuine legal or trade experts say anything positive in defence of the governments actions, its all been consistently negative.

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Ed Miliband apparently had a happy hour at HoC today , having Boris like a Bacon Sandwich.
A bit odd as always but he dicked him good.

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1305540732304986113?s=20

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Curious, isnā€™t Labour a leftist party???

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Yes, but like most political groups, it is a broad church in which people with differing views join together under a common aim. They will have a lot in common, but the issues that they disagree on can be quite divisive. In other words Some are further to the left than others.

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You have to love our governments negotiating tactics.

Kick up a stink about state aid with the EU, then agree to worse terms elsewhere.

Thatā€™ll work!!

https://www.ft.com/content/edb7d155-56b4-4065-9f83-31b2247fa178?fbclid=IwAR0AYTS44oyCFEbg_XUhRssysOB6PwzrpQ1RaNGDnEqaSqRcJ_HWetTpwgY

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This always confuses me. Leftists in Labour. Right wingers in Republican. Etc. I think none of the parties hold a serious and comprehensive debate to set their agenda and strategy. So thereā€™s always a lot of confusion and controversy.

Oh, I think thatā€™s largely accurate. I really meant in terms of what the EU have done. Thereā€™s a fair amount of expert commentary criticising the tactics adopted by the EU as evidencing bad faith.

The actions (/response?) of the UK government draws its own criticism, undoubtedly.

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Purely out of interest (and balance) do you have any examples of this ā€œbad faithā€? Iā€™ve honestly been far too distracted by the clown show we have in Westminster.

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Itā€™s been mooted that the EU are using this part of the negotiations to leverage agreement on other areas. In turn the bill can be seen as the UK trying to do similar (perhaps explains why the bill doesnā€™t actually resolve the issue the government is raising?)

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