Monthly Archives: October 2018

Time to declare our position

Is history repeating itself?

Mrs May called a General Election within six months of winning one. It was a massive miscalculation because she and her two autocratic aides had kept all details to themselves.

Now, with the deadly boredom for the public and mounting panic for businesses, that is Brexit, we have no details. Why do I get the feeling that every time M. Barnier and co., report good progress, it means that we have conceded something? The trouble is that the public knows nothing and MP’s are being stonewalled, when the whole plan should have been made available to them. They should be signing off the details, but still Mrs May is silent.

The second problem is that we are being bullied by the EU. If 75% of our exports go to the EU, then what will happen to them if there is no deal? It will be the same as it is for us in the UK, so therefore those businesses should also be panicking. Negotiators for the EU and those for the UK need to show their hands. People on the streets is not a feature of British daily life. Agitators and activists breed in this atmosphere.

You cannot disrespect people’s lives; you have to give them answers. Wearing down Civil Servants and trying to blame them for Mrs May’s intransigence is unfair. If there is confirmation of a ‘no deal’, the possible consequences should be discussed in Parliament and Emergency Plans set up to deal with it, before we bounce out.

Meanwhile, our Prime Minister and thus our country have been insulted by M. C-J Juncker, the Luxembourg President of the EU Commission. He danced into a speech, days after Mrs May had danced the Conservative Conference to a happy conclusion. For publicly mocking the Head of another member state, he should be sacked. Had she been a man, would that have happened? Yes, probably; he does not consider us equal partners, a cheek coming from his small country. I should think his citizens are mortified.

Brexit is not a contest; it is about the future of the UK. The Referendum threw up almost a 52% to leave and 48% to remain. The British have been on the streets, demonstrating, which shows the level of frustration out there. Ignore it at our peril.  However, sack any MP who wants another Referendum; you can’t do that just because you did not like the result the first time.

It is time for Mrs May to show her hand. If she does not do so, she risks civil disunity, never mind political unity. Disappointment is being hurled from all sides.  The teams of negotiators can no longer consider our position; we should declare it. I suppose Mrs May has to trust in MP’s of all hues to bring us about instead of flapping in the wind. We are a fiercely proud island nation, sometimes mavericks, always independent. in our history, leaving the EU will be a blip in trade.

We just have to wake up and look at what other countries are doing,  China’s refusal to accept our plastic waste may mean a boon to putting plastics in roads (British startup). We have numerous Chinese students and financial services’ workers in London; let us keep our friends.

LucyLou

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Mrs May stands strong, alone

Allow Mrs May a customs plan that allows free movement of products and services? If it is cherry-picking, let the EU have a paddy and overcome it. Mrs May has acted with great dignity over the last few days. Being mocked by CJ Juncker made the whole of the UK put their noses in the air. We are a great nation; Luxembourg is a small one. The man should be sacked for mocking an EU partner. (He danced his way onstage to his peers and they all laughed, according to a TV soundbite.) There is no second chance for insult. You can imagine the US going to war over such a thing, yet we are considered weak and how can that be? It seems that every time the EU negotiators says that the talks that day were making ‘good progress’, the more we wonder whether concessions are being given to the EU.

We are sticking to our guns over the Customs Union, as Theresa May rightly sees that there is no trade without it. so why can’t we have one that suits us, rather than Brussels. We should be saying that ‘x’ is what we have worked out and that is our offer on the table.

Every bank is making contingency plans, so should businesses. Maybe they can negotiate customs and Brexit plans for each industry. They know what they need; the government is wavering. Why cannot we ‘cherrypick’? Isn’t that what the EU is doing by rejecting our plans. Let’s be frank; the 27 EU nations have just realised that the loss of the UK’s financial contribution will mean no money for their own infrastructure, so they became M. Barnier’s lemmings. The merest mention of the words ‘general election’ makes MP’s realise that they may lose their comfortable salaries and they panic. This is where the leader must stand strong, which she is doing.

Where is Mrs May’s support? Why aren’t MP’s standing up and saying that they support her and in their chosen industry, they need such and such. It is for government to amalgamate not create. The lack of it suggests there is no support, yet that may not true. Is an aide keeping MP’s ideas from her. The two previous aides from the General Election, snubbed MP’s and acted like dictators. That would be catastrophic for the UK.

A General Election today would descend into chaos and may bring a Dictator into power, one who does not listen to his own, sends activists into every moderate’s constituency.

A Leadership Election would bore the nation. Those who live in glasshouses, (i.e., have no new ideas) should not throw stones. Social housing in London has been a cause for every government since the Second World War.

LucyLou

 

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