EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

It's quite a high bar to prosecute though, not sure whether this would be enough.

Haha they seem to forget the function of a border...

And they seem to think that the problem with the border is establishing who is going to pay for it.

Also: EU/Ireland don't want the border. Seems to be a rather fundamental misunderstanding there.

erect a hard border

OK bye

Farage on the Marr show proudly defending his intention to take his EU pension, with the justification that he has always said that would be the case, and that he wouldn't want his family to suffer from his loss of income.

Woah... Now Farage says: "I think I've done more than anyone else in this country to stop the rise of the far-right". And justifies it on the basis that UKIP drew votes away from the likes of the BNP.

NI to remain part of single market/customs union apparently: https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/937641775467986944

If true, this raises way more questions than it answers.

But it allows May to move negotiations on to the next stage.

^ Simple application of the 'will of the people'.
NI voted 'Remain'.

So did Scotland. I'm sure everyone there is looking forward to the same offer being extended. And then why not London?

And once we have these FT zones, how do we ensure the movement of goods/people between them is legal? Generally that's what a border does. Where are these borders going to go? DUP has already said they will not support any divergence from RUK.

I know.
I was adopting the simplistic midset of a typical brextard,
where any evidence of complication can be simply ignored by bellowing
'will of the people'.

I figured, but it led to some key questions.

By March 2019 the remaining brexitters can be given free one-way tickets to the Isle of Man.
It seems to be rooted in their beloved '50s,
and as a tax haven it will be outside the EU.
The brexitters can have their (limited) Soveriegnty,
and the rest of us can get on with our lives,
without the EMA & EBA, of course.

From FT (https://www.ft.com/content/983b64e8-d8e0-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482):

The draft refers to maintaining “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit — a form of words that, according to a senior official involved in the talks, appears to meet Dublin’s deep concerns about a possible hard border on the island and has not raised objections in London.

The wording is more comfortable for Britain than previous draft formulations that insisted on “no regulatory divergence”.

The deal came just minutes before Theresa May, the UK prime minister, prepared to enter a crucial lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, where Ireland remains the main obstacle to a deal on Brexit divorce terms.

Hilarious. As the minutes ticked down, and the UK once again couldn't get a concession, they broke down on the basis of shifting wording from "no regulatory divergence" to "regulatory alignment". A true win for Britain!

Once again, satire has no hope.

Nice example of Just in Time delivery...

Months spent doing nothing about the issue. A couple of minutes before lunchtime they bodge something about the wording that they thin will make it possible to bodge through the Press back home. Class.

If this happens, I am really happy for Northern Ireland as this place is still climbing out of a deep dark hole.

But it's also a strange solution, cos does it means "ussuns" from the EU can easily move to NI, but not to GB? If so, NI can continue on taking in talent from the EU, but it's probably not what Brexshit was supposed to mean.

And then it means any EU nationals in NI won't get hassle on pensions/rights/staying (as single market = EU rules) but ones in GB do? (outside the SM) it would great for me, but not really fair.

Fair? Since when did fairness have any input into Brexit?

So apparently the UK expects to get such a sweet trade deal with the EU that "alignment" is meaningless in this case. Presumably the EU will be paying us to export our goods.

This is, I'm sure, a very stupid question - but you seem to know about this sort of thing. NI voted 94% (or whatever) to stay in the EU.

What would a reunification referendum result look like in numbers like that; as this proposed Brexit setup up seems to set that debate up for the future? Or is it just too complicated to be able to talk about?

I really would not yet trust TMay and the Tories on this.

"no regulatory divergence" to "regulatory alignment"

causes more problems than it solves.
The 'no divergence' option clearly meant continued membership of the Single Market and Customs Union. The 'regulatory alignment' means an authority has to judge whether whatever BrexitUK comes up with matches/meets the EU's existing regulatory framework. The EU already has an ultimate authority, the ECJ, which the brexitters will not accept, and the EU isn't going to set up some new arbitration panel just to appease the departing UK.

/edit - not my place to claim to know what people of NI think or would do.

DUP's Brexit spokesman appears to be flexing it a bit:

I think that this is emanating from the Irish government, obviously, trying to push the UK government into a corner in the negotiations. It is not well thought through. I don’t think, given its promises, the British government could concede on this.

Shall we all move to NI? Will NI become Ireland?
What the actual fuck is going on?
Will there be city offices of London in Belfast?
I'm boggled.

What the actual fuck is going on?

What does 'regulatory alignment mean? wouldn't it mean that you'd (the UK) would never be allowed to change any regulation that applied in NI (i.e. all of them) to make them different from the EU's? In which case, what's the point?

Who would you judge whether something had diverged - a supra-national court perhaps?

Reunification is much too early.

Remember it's only been 10 years since a sorta government, and the violence has only ended 20 years ago. There's too much distrust and the structures are not in place.

But, Brexit has brought it a little closer, as some moderate unionists now wonder WTF the UK is at.

EDIT strictly my opinion like, give it another generation or so, I'd expect a border poll, just right now it's difficult to sell. Even w/o the block grant issue.