St Tony Has The Answer!

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43241776
We can stay in the EU as long as they address the problems. I wonder why Dave didn't try that? hang on!

[lindapalmara]

Tony who...... Oh that's the bloke who gave away most of the rebate (negotiated by Margaret Thatcher) in exchange for reform of the CAP. What happened? Nothing.

And whilst we're on about our worst PMs, how come Major is asking for a free vote for Tory MPs. He put a three line whip down for Maastricht treaty. Only one person Voted against (Bill Cash) and he had the whip taken away.

[Jackdaw33]

Quite right, Linda. Blair and Major are very much yesterday's men. Blair fought the 1983 election on a manifesto which promised withdrawal from the EC, as it then was. Talk about hypocrisy.

[Togo]

//Be gentle with Gullible she has recently had a sex-change ;o)//

Tut tut Baldric. Not allowed to say that now.....Successful transition is the new and exciting phrase.
The "budget" unfortunately did no stretch to enhanced cranium activity "improvements".

[andy-hughes]

I always think the same thing when Tony Blair and / or John Major appear -

Major is yesterday's man whose opinions are a self-aggrandising irrelevance.

Blair is all of the same, but with blood on his hands.

[ToraToraTora]

JD:"if the Calais hordes wish to enter the UK via Eire they will have to move south to Rosslare or Cherbourg. No doubt Calais will be please" - indeed, but they can do that now anyway.

[ToraToraTora]

BA AOG, i'm reminded of that today, an inch of snow and the country is at a standstill.

[Gromit]

// only the EU wants a border on the island of Ireland. //

Haven’t you Euro skeptics been saying for decades that the EU must protect its external borders.
Now that we will be on the wrong side of the EU external border, you are arguing that we be made a special case.

[Old_Geezer]

Immigration isn't the only issue; sovereignty is the main one.
A changed EU would not be sufficient unless it dropped the federalism/control nonsense.
There will be no second referendum as the decision has been made and the process is already ongoing.
The guy has no idea.

Folk have saying for decades that the EU must protect its external borders from immigration. That has nothing to do with free movement over a single island by the choice of both countries involved. The two can't reasonably be compared.

[anotheoldgit]

ToraToraTora

Thanks for the BA TTT.

[gulliver1]

07.56 " There will be no second referendum " OK God,

[New Judge]

“Haven’t you Euro skeptics been saying for decades that the EU must protect its external borders.”

I think you are being either disingenuous or deliberately mischievous (or a little of both) Gromit.

You know as well as anyone that there has been no border on the island of Ireland for 100 years. No particular threat is posed to the integrity of the EU by an unregulated border between Ireland and the UK any more than is posed by the borders that Switzerland (also not an EU member or a member of the Customs Union) shares with its EU neighbours. As I mentioned earlier, it would be interesting to learn exactly what threat the EU believes needs to be mitigated by a borderless Ireland. It would also be interesting to learn why the EU believes such a robust border is necessary when it is quite prepared to see its southern borders patrolled by what appears to be nothing less than a free ferry service from the coasts of northern Africa.

“Now that we will be on the wrong side of the EU external border,…”

What on Earth makes you say we will be on the “wrong” side?

[anotheoldgit]

Tora Tora Tora

/// i'm reminded of that today, an inch of snow and the country is at a standstill. ///

We are becoming a nation of 'snowflakes'.

[Mamyalynne]

Watch out for the avalanche;-)

[whiskeryron]

if there is a worry regarding the border between Eire ( EU ) & NI ( UK) video everything that crosses which can be checked if anything becomes suspect.

[Garaman]

//I think you are being either disingenuous or deliberately mischievous (or a little of both)//

I think you are too, NJ, by implying that the Irish don't want a border as if they would be happy with the North and the South under different trading agreements. I don't think that is the case. The Irish to my knowledge want a trading agreement between them and the North, which of course would be between the EU and the North, and which would effectively put a border at the Irish Sea.

[New Judge]

"...as if they would be happy with the North and the South under different trading agreements."

There are already different trading arrangements between the UK and Ireland. VAT in Ireland is 23% (20% in the UK). Corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5% (20% in the UK). There is no particular reason to suspect that the UK will suddenly depart from EU standards upon leaving and if it does the Irish will have to learn to adapt. If they want completely frictionless trade with the UK they might consider leaving the EU and joining the UK. The Irish leader has said that he has no wish to see a hard border in Ireland; the UK certainly does not. That only leaves one party that does.

[Garaman]

The Irish leader has said that he favours a soft Brexit because has no wish to see a hard border in Ireland. That has a slightly different meaning.

[New Judge]

There's no such thing as a "soft" Brexit. It's like being slightly pregnant.

What the Irish Prime Minister really wants is for the UK to remain enthralled to his Lords and Masters in Brussels to a lesser or (preferably in his view) a greater degree. That would make life easier for him (and just about everybody else) but not more preferable.

[Zacs-Master]

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU Referendum by a majority of 56% to 44%.

I thought you leave voters were all for democracy?

(Cue some banal comment about ‘all for one and one for all’)

[Khandro]

Zacs; //Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU Referendum by a majority of 56% to 44%. //

Selecting the voting stats any one area of the UK is a pointless exercise, the only figure which counts is the overall one which, as I'm sure you remember, was to leave the EU.