Friday, 28 September 2018

Boris Johnson demands May scrap her Brexit proposals

Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson called on Prime Minister Theresa May to rip up her proposal for Britain’s exit from the European Union, ratcheting up the pressure on May as she prepares to face her divided party at its annual conference next week.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 / 5:28 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Guy Faulconbridge, Costas Pitas

Just six months before the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019, little is clear: PM May has yet to clinch a Brexit divorce deal with the EU and rebels in her party have threatened to vote down any deal she makes.
“This is the moment to change the course of the negotiations and do justice to the ambitions and potential of Brexit,” Johnson, who resigned in July as foreign secretary over May’s Brexit proposals, wrote in Friday’s Daily Telegraph.
Johnson, the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed May, said May’s plans would leave the United Kingdom half in and half out of the club it joined in 1973 and in effective “enforced vassalage”.

Under the headline, “My plan for a better Brexit”, Johnson, called for a “SuperCanada-type free trade agreement” and cast the EU’s backstop proposals for Northern Ireland amounted to the economic annexation of part of the United Kingdom.
The plan outlined by Johnson gained support from other rebels such as Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg who are pushing for a deeper break with the EU.
“This is an opportunity for the UK to become more dynamic and more successful, and we should not be shy of saying that – and we should recognise that it is exactly this potential our EU partners seek to constrain,” Johnson wrote.
More than two years since the 2016 Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom, its politicians and its business leaders remain deeply divided over Brexit, considered to be one the most important decisions in post-World War Two British history.
In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the EU, while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent, backed staying.

“COLLECTIVE FAILURE”

A poll of polls published on Friday showed voters would now vote 52 to 48 percent in favour of remaining in the EU were there to be another Brexit referendum.
But researchers cautioned that a narrow victory for those hoping to reverse Brexit would be heavily contingent on getting those who did not vote last time to turn out.
“True, Remain enjoys a lead in the polls. But that lead remains a narrow one, and there is little sign of it growing,” said Senior Research Fellow at The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) John Curtice.
May, who voted to stay in the EU, is trying to clinch a divorce deal with the EU while grappling with an open rebellion in her Conservative Party, which convenes in the English city of Birmingham on Sunday for its annual party conference.
“There has been a collective failure of government, and a collapse of will by the British establishment, to deliver on the mandate of the people,” Johnson wrote.
May has repeatedly said her Brexit proposals are the only viable ones.
A 30-year schism inside her party over Europe helped sink the premierships of the past three Conservative prime ministers - Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-johnson/boris-johnson-demands-may-scrap-her-brexit-proposals
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Boris Johnson: Chuck Chequers for Super Canada Brexit plan

Boris Johnson urges the government to negotiate a Canada-style free deal to "fulfil the instruction of the people".

08:12, UK,Friday 28 September 2018

Boris Johnson leaves his grace-and-favour residence


Image:Boris Johnson has issued another attack on Theresa May's Brexit strategy


Boris Johnson has launched a blistering attack on Theresa May's Chequers plan, calling it "a moral and intellectual humiliation for this country" that will "cheat the electorate" if implemented.
In an explosive article published ahead of the Conservative Party conference the former foreign secretary urged the prime minister to "chuck Chequers" and adopt a "Super Canada" style proposal instead.
In a column for the Telegraph entitled "A better plan for Brexit", Mr Johnson says: "Overall, the Chequers proposals represent the intellectual error of believing that we can be half-in, half-out: that it is somehow safer and easier for large parts of our national life to remain governed by the EU even though we are no longer in the EU.
"They are in that sense a democratic disaster. There is nothing safe or 'pragmatic' in being bound by rules over which we have no say, interpreted by a federalist court.
"The Chequers proposals are the worst of both worlds.
"They are a moral and intellectual humiliation for this country.
"It is almost incredible that after two years this should be the opening bid of the British government."
Mr Johnson sets out an alternative vision which he says would make Britain "rich, strong and free".
He calls for a new withdrawal agreement which states that the Irish border question will be settled as part of the deal on the future economic arrangements.
He says the implementation period should be used to negotiate and bring into force a "Super Canada" type free-trade agreement and says MPs should not vote to hand over £40bn to the EU without any such agreement.
Mr Johnson says London and Brussels would agree to close cooperation in areas such as defence, security and aviation.
"This is the time to get it right," he says.
"This is the approach that allows this country really to exploit the opportunities of Brexit, to diverge and legislate effectively for the new technologies and businesses in which the UK has such a lead.
"This is an opportunity for the UK to become more dynamic and more successful, and we should not be shy of saying that - and we should recognise that it is exactly this potential our EU partners seek to constrain."
But critics of a Canada-style deal, including Prime Minister Theresa May herself, say it would still mean customs checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which could threaten the Good Friday Agreement.
The EU also has reservations, arguing the integrity of its single market could be harmed if there are not proper checks in place.
Mr Johnson's intervention comes two days before the start of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham where Brexit is expected to feature heavily.
His comments also come after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for calm over the current Brexit impasse - claiming there was always going to come a point in negotiations "where everyone was looking into the abyss".
Mr Hunt also backed Mrs May's resolve and warned the EU and doubters in the UK that "underestimating Mrs May is one of the biggest mistakes that you could make right now".
The Chequers plan was publicly rejected by EU leaders in Salzburg last week and both Labour and Tory Eurosceptics said they would vote against any such proposal.
https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-chuck-chequers-for-super-canada-brexit-plan


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Boris Johnson’s ‘SuperCanada’ proposal is super flawed

Boris Johnson has gone in all guns blazing against Theresa May today, with a 4,600-word column in The Telegraph. But with only six months to go before we are supposed to quit the EU, Johnson’s six-point plan for a “better Brexit” is full of holes.
by Luke Lythgoe | 28.09.2018

  • “Chuck Chequers.” Fine, but May’s Chequers proposal was already killed off by the EU in Salzburg (though May won’t admit it). And Johnson doesn’t have a viable replacement.
  • Ditch the Irish “backstop”. The EU probably wouldn’t accept scrapping their Irish insurance policy to keep the border open even if Johnson had a workable proposal. He doesn’t. He’s still relying on “checks away from the border”. That means physical border infrastructure and a harder border than today. It goes against what has already been agreed, and would trample over the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.
  • “SuperCanada-style free trade agreement”. Presumably the “super” bit refers to a super amount of cherry-picking, which the EU will not tolerate as it undermines the single market and the EU project. In his article, Johnson demands no free movement, no role for the ECJ and that the EU accepts UK regulations. But he still wants “extensive provisions on services” and “smoothness” for our supply chains. This is a fantasy wishlist, and precisely what a free trade agreement outside the single market cannot deliver.
  • Investing in border technology and staff. We will, of course, have to do this if Brexit happens. Think how better that money could be spent on other public services.
  • Accelerate no-deal preparations and end “Project Fear”. Johnson is worryingly casual about crashing out of the EU with no deal, referring to “banal questions of bureaucratic procedure” and arguing we used to trade smoothly with France and Germany before. That was 45 years ago: complex legal frameworks and much smoother, integrated supply lines now exist. You don’t just wrench yourself out of those without causing massive collateral damage.
  • Start negotiating free trade deals with other countries straight after Brexit. Has Johnson forgotten that we already have deals with over 65 countries – including, yes, Canada – thanks to our EU membership? We’ll have to renegotiate those just to get back to first base. And doesn’t he realise that we risk being bullied by America and China as we try to agree pacts with them – something they can’t do to the EU because its economy is bigger than theirs?
Dubbing May’s strategy a “moral and intellectual humiliation”, Johnson – with the backing of other leading Brexiters – is laying out his stall two days ahead of Conservative Party Conference. It looks like that event will be devoid of answers: no answers from May on the main stage, and nothing from the Brexiters on the fringe.
Don’t worry though, there will be grown-up voices at conference. Conservatives for a People’s Vote are holding their own rally on Monday.
The last train for a so-called “better Brexit” has long since left the station. What is on offer are Brexits that leave people asking “what’s the point”, “what’s the price” – or a blindfold deal where we don’t know the answers until too late. Politicians like Johnson can’t fix this – only you can sort this out: demand a People’s Vote.
https://infacts.org/boris-johnsons-supercanada-proposal-is-super-flawed/

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Tuesday, 25 September 2018

May - No-deal Brexit better than current EU offer

Prime Minister Theresa May signalled on Tuesday that she would prefer a 'no-deal' Brexit to the offer currently put forward by the European Union, stressing that Britain needs to see counter-proposals from the EU to move Brexit negotiations forward.

25 SEP 2018


Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on Brexit negotiations with the European Union at Number 10 Downing Street, London September 21, 2018 . Jack Taylor/Pool via Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May signalled on Tuesday that she would prefer a ‘no-deal’ Brexit to the offer currently put forward by the European Union, stressing that Britain needs to see counter-proposals from the EU to move Brexit negotiations forward.

 May last week issued an angry edict to Brussels when a summit of EU leaders which had been billed as a chance to generate momentum towards a deal in October or November ended in a blunt dismissal of British proposals.

 “I’ve always said no deal is better than a bad deal,” May told reporters. “I think a bad deal would be a deal that broke up the United Kingdom,” May said when asked whether a no-deal Brexit was better than one similar to the existing Canada-EU trade deal.

 Her spokesman said later that May was specifically referring to the type of deal the EU is currently offering on future trade, which Britain believes will split England, Wales and Scotland from Northern Ireland by insisting Northern Ireland adhere to different customs rules.

 Her position also effectively rules out alternative Brexit proposals put forward by rebel eurosceptic members of her own party, which are based on a wide-ranging free trade agreement similar to that agreed between the EU and Canada.

 Speaking to reporters on her way to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, May said she welcomed comments from European Council President Donald Tusk that the bloc still wanted to strike a deal, but added that the onus was still on the EU to break the deadlock on Chequers.

 “If they have concerns, they need to detail those concerns to us and if they have counter-proposals, let’s hear the counter proposals and then we can discuss those,” she said.

 May said the opposition Labour Party’s Brexit plans were not in the national interest after Labour’s Brexit policy chief said the party was likely to vote against any deal she reaches with the European Union.

 Even if May is able to secure a deal on Brexit with Brussels, it is far from certain she will be able to get the terms approved by parliament. In addition to Labour lawmakers, many in her own party also disagree with her exit plans.

 If she loses a vote, May has said Britain will leave the EU without a deal. But, in the likely chaos around a parliamentary defeat she could also face a leadership challenge, calls for a new national election, and even a second Brexit referendum.

 “I still do believe that we can get a good deal ... at that point all members of parliament will have a clear choice,” she said. “They’ll have to recognise, looking at their vote, that what we’re doing is delivering on the vote of the referendum, delivering on the vote of the British people.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-may/may-no-deal-brexit-better-than-current-eu-offer

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Friday, 21 September 2018

Macron Vows Punishment for States Refusing Third World Migration

Emmanuel Macron has said funding should be withdrawn from pro-sovereignty nations reluctant to hand more power over to Brussels, and that countries which refuse to welcome third world migrants must be thrown out of the Schengen area.

VIRGINIA HALE
Macron
“Europe is not a menu à la carte, it’s a political project,” the French president declared, speaking at the end of an EU mini-summit on migration in Salzburg Thursday evening.
At a press conference following the meeting of European leaders, Macron acknowledged there was “a crisis and tensions” over the topic but, crying out, “Who generates them?” the former investment banker launched a broadside at nations which reject asylum seekers and those which “refuse to let boats dock on its ports”.
Taking aim at the ex-communist Visegrad states, which are reluctant to follow the West down the road of globalist multiculturalism, he lashed out at “the leaders who tell me… ‘[I] love Europe when it gives me money, when it makes my people prosperous, when it allows my workers to make better a living in neighbouring countries,’ but at home, will not take a single migrant, not a single refugee.”
“Countries that do not want more Frontex or solidarity [in housing and feeding third world migrants] will leave Schengen. Countries that don’t want more Europe will no longer [get access to] structural funds,” he told journalists.
Turning the topic to EU Parliament elections, the banking protegé said next year’s vote would be “an historic fight [and] an election like no other”, as it would determine whether “the political project led by the founding fathers [of the union] … will prevail”.
Macron has previously summarised next year’s vote as a battle between pro-sovereignty conservatives and a “progressive” bloc which would impose his vision of a globalist, socially liberal EU superstate, which revolves around “values” and secular “human rights”, on the entire continent.
While most of the French leader’s ire at Salzburg was aimed at populists, his attack on countries “that do not want more Frontex” encompassed a much larger group at the summit, where Sebastian Kurz told reporters that southern states at the frontline of mass migration to Europe were “reluctant” over plans to massively increase the size and scope of the EU border agency.
The Austrian leader explained that in countries including Greece, Spain and Italy, there is “concern” that handing more power over to Brussels would make it “harder to wave migrants through” to other, richer EU countries.
In an interview on national radio last week, he said: “Because they were unable to persuade Hungary to let migrants in, the plan now is that they will take border protection rights away from us.
“They want no less than to send their mercenaries from Brussels to replace our Hungarians who are defending the border, and working as police and soldiers, whose homeland is important.”
Speaking at Salzburg, the populist leader told journalists that the expansion of Frontex was a “nice idea”, but said the agency had “never successfully protected a single metre of a border, while we have protected hundreds of kilometres”.
“There’s no need for them to protect the Hungarian border in our place, not to mention the questions of principle concerning the issue of sovereignty,” he said, adding that he had presented at the summit his own proposal which would “resolve this problem” to Austria, which is currently chairing the EU presidency.
Noting that the Hungarian proposal, which would see money marked for Frontex instead sent to help individual nations invest in protecting and strengthening their own external borders, had already been presented to Bulgaria, Orbán said “there are more of us who oppose” the EU plans than for, adding: “The status quo is on our side for now”.
This view was also expressed by Slovak prime minister Peter Pellegrini and his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš, the latter of whom said on the subject: “Malta, Italy, Greece, Spain need to be told that they will get more money. They each have their own coast guard, they don’t need any Frontex.”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/09/21/macron-punish-refuse-migration-brussels/
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