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Article 50 Week: When Britain Officially Bid "Adieu" To Europe
Topic Started: Mar 27 2017, 02:51 PM (309 Views)
Webster
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(The Guardian) EU's chief Brexit negotiator warns of 'distinct possibility' UK will leave with no deal
--This is the week that will see Theresa May triggering article 50, starting the purportedly irreversible process that will see Britain sliding down the slipway and leaving the EU after two years. Today May is in Scotland, giving a speech touching on this and holding what promises to be a very awkward meeting with Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has emerged her most threatening UK opponent over Brexit. Two other opposition forces, Labour and Ukip, are also setting out their conditions for Brexit.

Across the channel the main obstacle to UK Brexit success may turn out to be Michel Barnier, the European commission’s lead negotiator on this issue. He has written an article for today’s Financial Times (paywall) politely raising threats and conditions and it is well worth reading. Here are the main points.

--Barnier says there is a “distinct possibility” that the UK and the EU will fail to strike a deal. That would have “severe consequences”, he says. It goes without saying that a no-deal scenario, while a distinct possibility, would have severe consequences for our people and our economies. It would undoubtedly leave the UK worse off.

Severe disruption to air transport and long queues at the Channel port of Dover are just some of the many examples of the negative consequences of failing to reach a deal. Others include the disruption of supply chains, including the suspension of the delivery of nuclear material to the UK.


--He says the UK will have to reach an early agreement about paying money an exit fee to the EU as it leaves for the talks to succeed. He does not set out how much he expects the UK to pay, although it has been repeatedly reported that it will demand about €60bn (£50bn). He says: Beneficiaries of programmes financed by the European budget will need to know if they can continue relying on our support. There is no price to pay to leave the EU but we must settle our accounts. The 27 member states will honour their commitments and we expect the UK to do the same — because it is the mutually responsible way to act.

Barnier cites this as one of three issues that need to be addressed early in the negotiations. The other two are guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons living in other EU states, and not undermining peace in Northern Ireland. He goes on: If we cannot resolve these three significant uncertainties at an early stage, we run the risk of failure. Putting things in the right order maximises the chances of reaching an agreement.

--He reaffirms his desire to negotiate the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU before negotiating a future trade deal. The British government wants to negotiate both in parallel. But Barnier says: This means agreeing on the orderly withdrawal of the UK before negotiating any future trade deal. The sooner we agree on these principles, the more time we will have to discuss our future partnership.

--He says the EU will be “fair yet firm” in the talks in defending the interests of its 27 members states.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel has told the German parliament that the UK will not be able to trade with the EU on terms as good as it does now when it leaves. He said: It is clear that a partnership outside the European Union, as the United Kingdom is striving for, must necessarily be less than membership. A free trade agreement, however far-reaching and innovative it is, is inevitably less trade friendly than the barrier-free internal market.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Plaid Cymru has branded the “great repeal bill” the “biggest power grab” since the annexation of Wales in 1536.

Far from welcoming the Brexit secretary’s declaration that the devolved administrations would have “a significant increase in the decision making powers”, it said it was concerned that this meant the repatriation of powers from the EU to Westminster and not to the three assemblies.

Plaid Cymru says it is very concerned as paragraph 4.2 states “explicitly that EU responsibilities in the fully devolved fields, agriculture, environment and transport, will be taken by Westminster”. Plaid MP Jonathan Edwards said: The people of Wales voted to leave the European Union and to take back control – they did not vote to allow unelected Whitehall Britocrats to grab power for themselves. Wales also voted to make our own parliament responsible for the governance of our country in multiple devolution referenda – transferring responsibilities away from the bloated Westminster system and closer to the people of Wales.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, has criticised the white paper on the “great repeal bill” for not doing enough to protect workers’ rights. She said the bill should include specific clauses guaranteeing employment and equality laws, and that the government should also commit to ensuring UK employment legislation keeps up with new EU legislation. In a statement she said: The government is taking wide-ranging powers that will allow ministers to scrap or water down rights like protections from excessive working hours, equal treatment for agency workers, and redundancy protections. The prime minister needs to think again. She should carve out a specific exemption in the great repeal bill to stop holes being punched in the rights that working people in Britain currently have.

The prime minister must also make good on her promise to build on workers’ rights by putting them at the heart of the UK’s future trade deal with the EU. There must be a guarantee of a level playing field with our EU partners – not a race to the bottom on workplace rights. We don’t want hardworking Brits to miss out on new rights that workers in other European nations get.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) According to Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt, the “great repeal bill” won’t actually be called the great repeal bill...

--Love how @DavidDavisMP talks of Great Repeal Bill when bill will not have 'great' in formal title. Ruled out by parliamentary draftsmen 1/2
--Other famous Acts known as 'great' did not have 'great' in title. Great Reform Act 1832 + Ken Baker Great Education Reform Bill (Gerbil)
--Boring but precise wording. Draftsmen said: fine to have 'great' in title but only if legally relevant - eg if about Great Western Railway
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Corbyn and Starmer have made Labour 'impotent' on Brexit, says Mandelson
--Lord Mandelson, the Labour former business secretary, has written an article for the New Statesman about Brexit. Not surprisingly, he criticises Theresa May. (“She is desperate for the support of the right-wing press and the nationalist wing of her party. Where Cameron placated, she has actively empowered, regardless of cost.) And, not surprisingly, he also criticises Jeremy Corbyn.

What is a bit more interesting is that he singles out Sir Keir Starmer for attack too. Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary with leadership ambitions, is seen as Labour’s best hope by quite a few people on Mandelson’s wing of the party.

But Mandelson makes it clear that he holds Starmer jointly responsible for making Labour “impotent on the most important set of issues facing Britain in most peoples’ lifetime”. He says: The party’s frontbench has effectively brushed aside the views and interests of the bulk of its own supporters who wanted to stay in the EU and now don’t want to jeopardise their jobs by leaving the single market and the customs union as well. They value migration and want to see it managed, not virtually ended.

By going along with hard Brexit now, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer have torpedoed Labour’s ability to oppose the government’s approach when it fails later on. This is not acting in the national interest.

Nobody would claim that Brexit is easy to navigate politically, but Labour has rendered itself impotent on the most important set of issues facing Britain in most peoples’ lifetime. Setting a series of belated “tests” for the government will hardly reverse the damage.

-Read more: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/03/peter-mandelson-slams-jeremy-corbyn-and-keir-starmer-not-acting-national
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Brexit department corrects David Davis and says MPs will not get vote on leaving EEA
--In the Commons earlier David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said MPs would probably get a vote on leaving the EEA. That opened up the theoretical possibility of the House of Commons voting to keep Britain in the EEA (the “Norway option”) while leaving the EU.

That has now been ruled out. The Brexit department has issued a statement effectively correcting its secretary of state and saying a vote is now not expecting.

A spokesperson for the department said: We will not be a member of the single market or the EEA. Once we leave the EU, the EEA agreement will no longer be relevant for the UK. It will have no practical effect.

We therefore do not envisage a vote. We are considering what steps, if any, might need to be taken to formally terminate the EEA agreement as a matter of international law.

That is what the secretary of state was referring to in the House and we will of course keep parliament fully updated.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Gina Miller, who businesswoman who forced the government to pass legislation authorising the triggering of article 50 by taking it to court, has told Radio 5 Live that she could launch a fresh legal challenge over the “great repeal bill”. She said: I would consider going to court to get a ruling to say whether or not the government can do this [use the great repeal bill] - as we did with the royal prerogative.

I am profoundly worried about the use [of so-called Henry VIII powers] because the government has already blotted its copy book by trying to bypass parliament and use the royal prerogative. So if there is any sniff that they are trying to use Henry VIII powers, that would be profoundly unparliamentary and democratic, and I would seek legal advice, because what you are doing is setting a precedent that government could bypass parliament.


It is not entirely clear on what grounds she would be able challenge the “great repeal bill”. Henry VIII powers are perfectly legal and have been around for centuries - they are not caused Henry VIII powers for nothing - and, if ministers get new powers, it will be because parliament has passed a new act.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Liberty, the human rights pressure group, says the white paper on the “great repeal bill” suggests the bill “risks leaving UK residents with far fewer rights than they currently have”.

In a press notice it proposes various improvements, including putting a “non-retrogression clause” into the bill to prevent it and any secondary legislation deriving from it being used to weaken current protections, and including the EU’s charter of fundamental rights in UK law.
-Read more: https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news/press-releases-and-statements/gaping-holes-where-our-rights-should-be-libertys-analysis
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The failure of the talks to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland has claimed another casualty - the move to create a low corporation tax regime in the region.

Top Stormont civil servants who are now in charge of running devolved government departments in Belfast have warned that the deadline for April 18 to introduce a 12.5% corporation tax “may slip” if local politicians do not reach a deal to re-establish devolved cross-community government.

One of the few things that united the two main parties - the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein - was the drive towards a low corporation tax rate similar to that in the Irish Republic which has created hundreds of thousands of jobs south of the border, mainly in the hi-tech multi-national sector.

The campaign by Invest Northern Ireland to encourage foreign direct investment has even involved Ballymena-born Holywood star Liam Neeson. Yet beyond the sprinkle of stardust the key selling point to multi-national hi-tech giants was meant to be a 12.5% corporation tax regime.
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