A bit of a Jam

In their 1980 hit, Going Underground, The Jam sang "you've made your bed, you'd better lie in it." Meaning, in terms of this blog, those who voted to Leave and the areas, like Kent and Sunderland, that voted heavily, will have to deal with the consequences.

In his blog today, Chris Grey, implores those of us who voted Remain to try not to be too harsh on those who voted to leave, because they were so obviously lied to.

Oddly, many of the area that voted to Leave most heavil with suffer the worst thanks to the hard or no deal Brexit that is coming. And those areas that rely on exports so much, like car making in Sunderland, Oxford and Swindon, aerospce in Bristol, BEA Systems in Lancashire, they will need to most support, and many of "middle England" that voted to Remain will have to fork out more in taxes or accept cuts to our local services to help these areas out.

It really doesn't sound very fair to me.

Maybe its because I have a desire to know things, to be informed, so when the time comes to make a choice, I make an informed one. Or put it another way, if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

I know this. You probably know this, but in some's eyes, Nigel and Boris can do no wrong. Even today, Nigel is stirring up anti-immigrant hate as some boys landed in Kent yesterday, and it turns out some immigrants had a tour round Anfield. Clearly, he thinks a good lynching is in order.

But, Brexit has happened. And nothing has changed, people are still trying to reach here, just like Brexit was supposed to stop. But it hasn't, nor will it. Just another Brexiteer lie.

We drove past the lorry park/customs post in Ashford; work is underway, earth moving is going on and a new entrance road is being laid. It will be very busy there for many months. I can't see much of it being ready in time. But it might, even if the IT system won't be. But whatever, on January 1st, all freight and trucks arriving in Dover or at the Tunnel must be compliant with EU rules and have the paperwork to verify it. If not, the truck or freight doesn't get on the ferry/shuttle. The Ferry companies and Eurotunnel know their responsibilities in this.

One of the "benefits" from Brexit is supposed to be Freeports. A freeport is an area outside a country's tax and regulatory regime. Goods can come and leave and not trigger VAT or tariffs. Freeports are a recipe for tex evasion, but they are legal in the EU, if the UK wanted them so bad, then we could have had them, unless Ministers want to bend the rules even further. IN not collecting taxes and tariffs this deprives the exchequer of funds, meaning more tax for elsewhere to maintain spending, or cut spending. This coupled with probable reductions in corporation tax means less and less money to spend on us, the people and society at large.

If the problems at Dover were not bad enough, at Hollyhead in Wales, it could be worse, with the town crowing in on three sides of the port, a railway station, and somehow the same infrastructure needed at Dover and other Channel and North Sea ports would be required because NI will remain partially in the EU. But uncertainy of NI supply chains is already raising fears of food shortages. This will also not be an easy fix, if it can be fixed.

The UK is close to signing a FTA with Japan. But this is not as good news as it might appear, as it is on inferior terms to the one Japan has with the EU, and has been rushed, so will not be a complete agreement, covering as much as the UK might have wished, and parts of it might have to be renegotiated once some kind of deal is struck between the UK and EU.

But an FTA isn't a magic bullet. It needs to be negotiated, and the text combed through by armies of lawyers on both sides, and there hasn't been time for this to have happened.

IDS and the other Brexiteer MPs are not stupid. They knew what was in the WA, and always planned to undermine it later in the process. That he, in particular, now claims stuff is hiding in the "small print", when he, himself, stood up and argued for less scrutiny as the details had been debated to death. His words. So, he is lying. If so, just the latest Brexiteer to do so, and won't be the last. But he should be asked why he didn't read the WA he ratified in Parliament, and keep asking until he gives an answer.

But the Express of Torygraph won't do that, of course.

But Brexit is coming, the actual leaving of the EU has happened, and leaving the SM and CU will happen at the end of the year. There is no avoiding that or the measures that need to be taken. Should have taken place years ago to be honest, but then Brexit wasn't defined other than saving money and having no downsides.

It will cost £1,000,000,000 to implement as parallel UK chemical system just to replicate the EU one, a UK system that does the same job as what we currently use, for free, as part of the EU. That money we send to the EU each week/month/Year actually gave us some considerable benefits. Benefits we will now have to pay for, incuding set up costs to do the same job as what we have left, just because someone equates this bullshit with "freedom".

Brexiteers knew this was coming, but labelled it "project fear".