Shard

Options now seems to be:

Norway - includes FOM
Canada - no FOM but NI is cut off by sea border
No Deal - sorry face, need to cut off nose

Well done Theresa.

DigitalGhost

It will be the Canada option then I think. Tbh if we really must have an open land border with the Republic then a border separating NI from the rest of the UK wouldn't be the worst thing anyway.

Shard

I think it might end up that way.

jimenato

She specifically ruled out any kind of border between NI and the rest of the UK in her speech.

jimenato

She has effectively ruled out the first two in her speech.

FOM is not an option - doesn't respect the referendum - so no Norway.
Any border between NI and RUK is out - so no Canada.

No deal - this would involve a hard border between NI and The Republic - but there's little we can do about that.

What a bloody, unholy, and entirely predictable, mess.

How come we could all see this coming but the politicos and leavers couldn't?

DaveLovesDee

You only got that referendum because Cameron was trying to appease a minority of Tory politicians and supporters. If Cameron had got everything he'd asked for, you'd still be waiting.

None of us will ever get a referendum on anything unless the government of the day says so.

Cut the victim mentality shit. It's not about what you say, but the attitude you have. Same with many Leavers.

You voted Leave, I fully accept they had more votes than Remain did, now own it. Everything that's happened since is down to the Leave vote. Don't blame Remain for that. If the government hasn't made the Brexit you want, deal with it.

Shard

Yes, she did, but she's in denial about what she can achieve. The EU keeps saying no cherry picking, and Britain keeps going back with cherry picked deals. It does seem to be heading toward an impasse, in which the UK will have to accept the options that the EU stipulate. In which case, it's least worst option time.

Shard

Probably because the Leave side has been sowing the seeds of doubt since Day 1. Whenever Remained said, it could lead to the breakup of the UK or the EU won't budge, we were criticised as Project Fear and assured Germany would push through on ''they need us more than we need them". Leave has been believing its own BS for years, and it really takes a critical situation like this for the reality to be known. The irony is that we have been sounding out the EU on Chequers type scenarios for some time, and they have consistently said no. Will the genuine threat of No Deal effect compromise on both sides? Let's see...

DaveLovesDee

Oh well, we may as well tear up the Good Friday Agreement at the same time we tear up the Lisbon one.

Will anyone trust any future agreements the UK has signed, whenever a Tory government's in office?

couldn't? More like wouldn't.....

I think many Tories and some of the public were just hoping the EU would roll over and let the UK have whatever it wanted as a Leaving gift. EU rules don't work that way. Again, something most Remainers knew.

Shard

It's amazing how emotional the Leave/Maybot language has become. Being offended, feeling bullied, not going to be pushed around etc.. This is an international negotiation, these themes should not be raised by the press, let alone the government. Crybaby Theresa should stand down and let someone else try and sort the mess out.

BritInParis

Best Brexit news in a long, long time. Evidently the EU learnt nothing from Cameron’s “renegotiation” otherwise they would’ve welcomed locking the UK into Chequers with open arms. Now we’re where we should’ve been 18 months ago and negotiating a Canada plus deal. It’s mind boggling that they still think they can bounce the UK into a second referendum. Expect a five minutes to midnight deal where miraculously the Irish border problem isn’t so much of a problem after all when Merkel and Macron are faced with the reality of a £39 billion budget deficit.

paulry

Exactly what I was thinking.

Shard

I don't see how the UK can withold £39BN. These are legal obligations which the EU would pursue. Failure to pay would trigger enormous badwill in Europe and create a very tarnished image for the UK on future international negotiations. The "go whistle" option is merely posturing to inflate the Leavers sense of indignation. At best the amount could be disputed to some lower (or higher) level, but the UK cannot and would not walk away from international financial and treaty obligations.

Shard

It's not only the EU that wants to "bounce" the UK into a second referendum, it's many UK citizens too. Even a UK political party. This is another portrayal of the EU as a big bad bully. Whether the UK should have a srcise referendum is a perfectly reasonable debate.

EMR

So where are all of those who said the the EU needs the UK more than we need it.
That negotiating a new trade deal would be easy peasy.
It was just a load of Brexit boll*****, was,n,t it.