Iain Duncan Smith has, as usual, made a bit of a fool of himself by becoming the latest high profile Brexiteer to come out suggesting the Withdrawal Agreement is no good and must be renegotiated. He is quoted in an article in The Sun about reports Britain is 'on the hook' for £160 billion in debts incurred by The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Financial Stability Mechanism. I have no idea if this is correct or not but I'll do a bit or research although I suspect someone on Twitter will let us know before the end of the day.
This is money that has gone to what The Sun describe in inverted commas as “investment projects” across the EU27, some of them said to be "economically fragile."
I imagine this is intended to suggest a lot of the loans will not be repaid and as part of our share in the EIB we will be liable. I seem to remember a lot of Brexiteers were keen to hold on to the benefits of our 'assets' in the EIB.
But that isn't the main point of this post. No, what IDS has shown is his and the Brexiteers utter stupidity, spelled out in this tweet by James Mates at ITV:
What makes this more extraordinary is that not only did Duncan-Smith not read the Withdrawal Agmt he voted for, he voted in Oct last year to *accelerate* consideration of the Billto just 3 days. Those who voted for more time, so MPs could read the ‘small print’ were chucked out. https://t.co/WahVCHcT2Y— James Mates (@jamesmatesitv) August 3, 2020
Extraordinary indeed.
The Euro sceptics had no idea what they were complaining about for 30 years but persuaded Cameron that we needed a referendum on EU membership to sort it out once and for all. They ran a campaign of half truths and outright lies but no plan for what might happen afterwards but convinced a majority to support their side.
The EU pointed out all the difficulties and Theresa May tried to fit the conflicting pieces together but they kicked her out and installed their man who promptly went over and got the 'oven-ready' deal - essentially by capitulating on the Irish border and the divorce settlement. They cheered when he did so.
As Mates points out they voted enthusiastically for the WA and withdrew the whip from MPs like Dominic Grieve and Ken Clarke who wanted more time to study the details. Now IDS and Owen Paterson and others want to reopen it and start again!
We are governed by men and women who are either too lazy or can't be bothered to read the details or if they do, cannot understand the details - even when they have offices stuffed with researchers paid by the state. They disdain anyone with expertise and prefer their own ignorance and prejudice.
Even more amazing - although I note nobody is yet saying this - is that none of the Brexiteers are critical of Frost or Johnson, the men who negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement. Not a word of criticism. It is all the EU's fault apparently.
None of this bodes well for the future relationship talks which are set to follow the same path. They too are going down to the wire with no time to examine or consider all the ramifications for different sectors. No doubt this time next year IDS and Co will be complaining about the skinny trade deal and bemoaning the damage being done to the British economy.
The chemicals industry is the latest to complain that replicating the EU’s REACH regulations for registering chemicals is set to cost £1 billion.
And Business Insider repeats an article from earlier this year about 80 per cent of British food being imported. This is from a note by an HSBC analyst which claims that frequently food processed here is counted as a British product when it is in fact imported. They cite tea and carrots in the article.
“The 50% statistic underrepresents the reality, McCarthy says. In reality, "80% of food is imported into the UK," he wrote. The lower number "defines food processed in the UK as UK food, even though the ingredients may have been imported. For example, tea is processed in the UK, but we grow no tea — it is all imported. When ingredients are counted as imported, the real figure is over 80%."
Not all of the 80% of food comes from the EU of course.
Apparently some carrots bought in a UK supermarkets on Thursday were still in the ground in Spain on the Monday. And a shortage of HGV drivers will only make matters worse.
It is a demonstration of just how vulnerable the UK is to restrictions on the flow of products and produce into the country and why no deal will never happen.
The chemicals industry is the latest to complain that replicating the EU’s REACH regulations for registering chemicals is set to cost £1 billion.
And Business Insider repeats an article from earlier this year about 80 per cent of British food being imported. This is from a note by an HSBC analyst which claims that frequently food processed here is counted as a British product when it is in fact imported. They cite tea and carrots in the article.
“The 50% statistic underrepresents the reality, McCarthy says. In reality, "80% of food is imported into the UK," he wrote. The lower number "defines food processed in the UK as UK food, even though the ingredients may have been imported. For example, tea is processed in the UK, but we grow no tea — it is all imported. When ingredients are counted as imported, the real figure is over 80%."
Not all of the 80% of food comes from the EU of course.
Apparently some carrots bought in a UK supermarkets on Thursday were still in the ground in Spain on the Monday. And a shortage of HGV drivers will only make matters worse.
It is a demonstration of just how vulnerable the UK is to restrictions on the flow of products and produce into the country and why no deal will never happen.
