The now-enacted will of (some of) the people

[Chindie]

They've decided they want no deal. All of this is just pantomime. The lunatics are running the asylum.

[blandy]

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

They've decided they want no deal. All of this is just pantomime. The lunatics are running the asylum.

I see it differently. In terms of the Gov't leavers - They know they can't have what they want, but they don't want to compromise. They know that what they can have isn't what they promised.

In terms of the Gov't remainers - they know that whatever they get will be worse than what it is now., but don't want to admit it publicly.

So with the odd exception, they are just cowardly efftards.

[snowychap]

Brussels demands UK pay €2.7 billion in lost customs duties

Quote

The European Commission today formally demanded that the U.K. pay €2.7 billion into the EU budget after investigators found that British authorities allowed a massive Chinese fraud network to evade paying the appropriate level of customs duties.

The network — which imported ultra-cheap Chinese goods into Europe — was first revealed in March last year by the EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF. The EU concluded that British customs allowed those importers to use “fictitious and false invoices and incorrect customs value declarations at importation.”

“Despite having been informed of the risks of fraud relating to the importation of textiles and footwear originating in the People’s Republic of China since 2007, and despite having been asked to take appropriate risk control measures, the United Kingdom failed to take action to prevent the fraud,”  the Commission said in a statement.

“The United Kingdom is liable for the financial consequences of its infringements of EU legislation.”

While any recovery of the funds will depend on negotiations between the U.K. and the Commission, London has already been in contact with Brussels to complain about the almost €3 billion bill that the government is facing for infringement of EU law.

The U.K. argues that OLAF has overestimated the amount missing from state coffers because its figure is based on EU average prices and fails to take account of the high amount of low value clothes entering the U.K. clothing market.

London has also told Brussels it has implemented around 100 measures since 2010 aimed at fighting against fraud, resulting in savings of £175 billion that would have otherwise gone unpaid. One such measure includes selecting a greater number of containers for pre clearance inspections.

“We do not recognise the European Commission’s estimate of alleged duty loss. We take customs fraud very seriously and we continue to evolve our response as new threats emerge,” Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said in a statement, adding that it would “carefully examine the formal notice from the Commission and respond in due course.”

Still, London could yet be saddled with an even greater bill as the Commission also said that the U.K. infringed EU laws in relation to the collection of Value Added Tax.

The probe conducted by OLAF took place from 2014 to 2016  and focused on the English ports of Felixstowe and Dover, the main entry points for Chinese textiles and footwear coming into Europe.

To reveal the level of abuse of Britain’s customs terms on these clothes, OLAF cited the case of women’s trousers which were declared with a value of 91 cents per kilo, undershooting the market price of cotton at €1.44 per kilogram. The average price for the trousers declared at customs across the EU was €26/kg.

Once the goods entered the U.K., they were then trafficked to members of criminal networks across Europe. The fraudsters then set up “phoenix” companies to take delivery of the goods, according to a joint OLAF-French investigation. These businesses would then disappear, only to be reborn elsewhere.

This strategy enabled the companies to avoid paying VAT because the EU allows importers to pay VAT in the country where they intend to sell it, and not at their port of entry.

 

[snowychap]

Government Brexit analysis material published 

Quote

The Committee on Exiting the European Union publishes material from the documents provided by the Department for Exiting the EU.

...

The Committee on Exiting the European Union publishes material from the documents provided by the Department for Exiting the EU, in response to the Humble Address of 31 January 2018.

At its meeting on Wednesday 7 March, the Committee agreed to publish the documents provided by the Department in full with the exception of a single annex highlighted by the Department as being sensitive to the ongoing EU-UK negotiations. 

The briefing and associated correspondence between the Chair and Secretary of State can be found in the publications section of the committee's website.

Chair's comments

Committee Chair Hilary Benn MP said:

"The results of this analysis, undertaken by the Government with the aim of quantifying the potential impact of leaving the EU on the British economy, are already largely in the public domain in one form or another.

Allowing this information to be considered in its full context, rather than selectively quoted, will help properly to inform public debate about how the figures were arrived at and what the economic effects of Brexit might be.

The analysis suggests that there will be an adverse effect on the economy of the UK and all its regions, and that the degree of impact will depend on the outcome achieved in the negotiations. Last week the Prime Minister said that as a result of Brexit "our access to each other’s markets will be less than it is now."

The Committee asked the Secretary of State whether there was any specific material that he would prefer the Committee not to publish on the grounds that it was commercially, market or negotiation-sensitive. Having considered both the Department's response and the significant public interest in the impact of Brexit on the British economy, the Committee has decided to publish the EU Exit Analysis, with a single annex removed on the grounds of negotiation sensitivity."

Various links to documents, &c. are on that link above.

Edited March 8, 2018 by snowychap

[Xann]

We're going to need more foodbanks.

[Chindie]

The idle poor can grow their own.

Stop talking Britain down. We're Great don't you forget. Empire and whatnot.

[ml1dch]

Apparently this is still a thing, in and amongst all the James Bond stuff.

EU Parliament have voted that the future relationship should be a bog-standard free-trade arrangement, with Northern Ireland (at a minimum) remaining harmonised with the Single Market and Custom's Union in the absence of any other acceptable solution (which a BSFTA doesn't even come close to).

Nine days until the European Council meeting where this is either punted into the weeds indefinitely or goes properly nuclear. At least there's nothing else going on right now to distract attention...

Edited March 14, 2018 by ml1dch

[Chindie]

Brexit is going so well the government is asking logistics businesses to sign NDAs before discussions.

It's almost like the whole thing is a horrific shit show and they'd rather this wasn't publicised further.

Brexit - for morons by idiots.

[ml1dch]

10 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Brexit - for morons by idiots.

I prefer the mission statement "the undefined being negotiated by the unprepared to deliver the unspecified for the uninformed"

[ml1dch]

In the run-up to the referendum, somebody had an uncharacteristically prescient thought about what a decision to run away might mean:

"There is the Putin factor: we don't want to do anything to encourage more shirtless swaggering from the Russian leader, not in the Middle East, not anywhere"

(the other Telegraph article when he decided to roll his dice and ended up with snake eyes)

Edited March 18, 2018 by ml1dch

[Chindie]

The fudge is in.

[Awol]

Seems pretty good on balance, no obstructions to citizen’s movements during transition, full market access continues until Dec 2020 but no restrictions on signing new trade deals between March ‘19 and Dec’ ‘20. 

Well played. 

[Chindie]

Hopefully headed towards BINO.

[ml1dch]

Seems pretty good on balance. Nothing changes at all and near-complete capitulation on everything that the EU said we would have to capitulate on. Probably would have been cheaper and more sensible to not throw away all of our input on the laws that we will be obeying, but on the bright side, at least it'll feel like we never left in the first place.

Well played.

[Awol]

2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Hopefully headed towards BINO.

Moving towards the opposite I think, but with the softest possible landing on the way out. 

It won’t please the hard-right Tories but that hitting that sweet spot of allowing UK to sign other deals while still having full single market access is the target they shot for and hit. If they’d gone in saying that was all they wanted it’s debatable whether the EU would have agreed it at all.

Always good to give the other side the wins they felt they needed. 

Over to ‘disgraced etc’ Liam Fox’s department.  

[mjmooney]

It'll be interesting to see what stance the Heil takes on this. 

[StefanAVFC]

No closer to fixing Irish border issue though.

[Chindie]

5 minutes ago, Awol said:

Moving towards the opposite I think, but with the softest possible landing on the way out. 

It won’t please the hard-right Tories but that hitting that sweet spot of allowing UK to sign other deals while still having full single market access is the target they shot for and hit. If they’d gone in saying that was all they wanted it’s debatable whether the EU would have agreed it at all.

Always good to give the other side the wins they felt they needed. 

Over to ‘disgraced etc’ Liam Fox’s department.  

There's lots of discussion already that the ability to discuss deals whilst having access is a mirage.

It largely looks like we just did what everyone knew we would, give in to every EU position and get left holding the border baby.

[Chindie]

6 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

It'll be interesting to see what stance the Heil takes on this. 

Hailed as a victory over evil Brussels, and cough through/ignore/lie about all the ways it isn't. Downing Street will be pleased and will remember the good press.

[Awol]

12 minutes ago, Chindie said:

There's lots of discussion already that the ability to discuss deals whilst having access is a mirage.

It largely looks like we just did what everyone knew we would, give in to every EU position and get left holding the border baby.

I’ve missed all of the discussion you reference here (gave up reading when Brexiteer=moron posts took over) but I’m not sure asserting “it’s a mirage” necessarily makes that true. 

If the shape of a UK deal is thrashed out by March ‘19 as planned, we can negotiate with other countries knowing what’s up for grabs and what isn’t. We’ll be out of the SM & CU come Dec 2020, the FTA on goods will get done (overwhelmingly in EU’s interest to do it) so the big question will be on Financial Services. FWIW I think that will get done too, again because the EU can’t afford to raise barriers against its biggest supplier of capital - but we’ll see.