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I'm not convinced that you can dismiss it all as political theatre. The whole thing is politics, the EU is a political union, made from, and of politics. This posturing is the reality of how things happen.
It doesn't need saying but I will anyway, the UK has been fucking stupid and dogmatic all the way through, their attempts to negotiate the WA and any future FTA have been done by some of the dimmest fuckers we could possibly have allowed to crawl out from under their filthy rocks. This brings us great shame.
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the UK has been fucking stupid and dogmatic all the way through
Given that the Brexiters were never anything other than fucking stupid and dogmatic, not to mention liars, charlatans and bigots, how anyone ever expected anything else is beyond me.
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I'm not convinced that you can dismiss it all as political theatre. The whole thing is politics, the EU is a political union, made from, and of politics. This posturing is the reality of how things happen.
The reason I regard it as political theatre is that quite often the UK government position has been along the line of "WE DEMAND ACCESS TO THE SINGLE MARKET WITHOUT PAYING CONTRIBUTIONS" knowing that the EU will not entertain this.
Requesting stuff that you know isn't possible and then blaming the other side for saying no is political theater in my book. Requesting access to the single market for reduced contributions and throwing something else into the offer would be a good faith negotiation.
It doesn't need saying but I will anyway, the UK has been fucking stupid and dogmatic all the way through, their attempts to negotiate the WA and any future FTA have been done by some of the dimmest fuckers we could possibly have allowed to crawl out from under their filthy rocks. This brings us great shame.
This we totally agree on. The moment I realised that we were proper fucked was when Theresa May stood up in Lancaster House and promised to deliver a bunch of stuff that had already been ruled out.
kl
Stonehedge
The EU have always stood firm that they would not compromise on the freedoms and would not provide membership benefits to a non member. That has been an unchanged constant since before the referendum even happened. To do so would weaken the union which they clearly would not choose to do so to benefit the UK.
The twists and turns have been political theater and nothing more.
I certainly read enough accounts in the run up to the referendum and warnings from people directly involved with the EU to know this was the most likely outcome . The pro remain newspapers certainly made a big deal of it. The EU trade advisers made a big deal of it. The various internationl trade lawyers who passed comment predicted this outcome. Do you think these people, the people with the most relavant knowledge and experience, just lucked out in their prediction?
EDIT: The UK has never had a negotiating position. The choice was for the UK government to back down and go for a "Brexit in Name Only" (swiss model) or suck up a hard Brexit. Surely "they need us more than we need them" is the biggest lie told to people who voted leave?