I couldn't believe that he was laughing and smirking, while making the statement. Let's hope it works out well for everyone, I'm not convinced it will at the moment, there doesn't seem to have been a lot of preparation and planning over the last 3years.
Also, Australia is part of the larger Asia Pacific Trade group,which includes Japan, Indonesia, Korea and China. This group has trade deals with the US, South America and the E.U.. Australia and New Zealand benefit greatly from trade with Asia,plus geographically it's closer. Their populations are small but benefit from having access to these larger groups. They cannot increase their agricultural production in order to make up a deficit in UK supplies, as they are already have confirmed exports. Chinese investment in New Zealand has increased in the last decade, nationalists don't like it but it has brought wealth to the economy. To sum up, Australia doesn't have a individual deal with the EU,but is part of a larger trading block that does. A bit like the UK but not quite the same, which doesn't have a individual deal with the EU or is part of a larger trading block. Perhaps we could see about joining one,it seems to help all the members of them,even small countries like the UK.
Australia commenced negotiations with the EU in June 2018 for a new FTA. Those negotiations are still ongoing.
Rather childish of them both to not answer his calls. Macron rarely comes across as nice at the best of times. Plenty of leaders hate him such as Turkey and with an election in 2022 he wants to look a tough leader.
So the Tories have p1 ssed about for 4 years but with 2 days to go it’s Jonny forriners fault if we get no deal. OK - that seems reasonable.
Whether we agree with the demands of the Conservatives or not I think Boris has been pretty clear with what he's wanted out of it, whilst in the past week or so Macron moved the goal posts. We look like we could be in a mess come January 1st but I genuinely think a lot of British people want us to be in a mess just so they can say I told you so.
Can you say that last part of your final sentence back to yourself, because it is truly ridiculous. You genuinely think people want to be poorer, have their houses at risk, their savings eroded, their mental health affected, their job prospects harmed, their freedom of movement taken away.... to simply go "ner ner, told you brexit was a crackpot idea"? Have a word with yourself, seriously.
Pretty clear about what he wants give over he signed a legally binding international treaty and before the ink had dried put a bill through Parliament so he could break the treaty. Johnson is a clueless clown over promoted and clearly out of his depth with both Brexit and Covid and we the working and middle classes will be the ones paying the bill for decades to come. Any PM with an ounce of sense would have said to the EU look until we've got Covid sorted let's prolong the transition period so we don't have two things trashing our economies at once and we give ourselves more time to get a deal sorted. Problem is Johnson and co don't have the intelligence to work that one out.
I think most people’s first choice would be to remain in the EU, to be fair. But yes, seeing as we are heading for the cliff edge, I’ll be a big on ‘this is what you ******* voted for’.
@dreamboy3000 got to say I completely agree with this from DWLC. Lots of people seem to have mistaken the huge frustration that many of us feel about this whole mess for some sort of "I told you so" attitude. I'd love it if everything works out well, obviously! But it's looked like a s***show from Day 1 and it's maddening to see people defending what has happened.
It is not about snubbing him. He is trying to circumvent the negotiations. Barnier is the person delegated to negotiate. It’s a bit like Barnier ringing Sturgeon rather than talking to David Frost. It just isn’t how things work
Really? After 4 and a half years of the Tories ‘negotiating’. Can you précis our position then if it’s so clear? There’s no more consensus about what Brexit means now than there was during the campaign.
Why should they take his call ? The EU negotiates for the 27, they don't do it as individual countries, rather the point. And I don't know if the below is correct BUT it is totally believable due to the calibre of the PM.
That wouldn't surprise me in the least. He's not a statesmen or a diplomat. He has no grasp of detail or nuance and i've seen numerous excerpts of him in the past cocking up simple lines fed to him as both london mayor and foreign secretary. I can't think of a worse situation for him to be in, having to discus possible trade detail and complexity with the President of the EC and with the chief negotiator.
I've seen a similar rumour that Johnson tried to get Barnier sacked overnight, which cooled relations significantly. And now he has his friendly Tory MPs bleating about the grave insult to the British people from Merkel and Macron - both of who have probably got more important things to consider what with a pandemic raging through their countries.
Well I hope you all like fish because it looks like that’s all that will be left on the menu come1st Jan. Got to give credit to Boris for being consistent though, he’s cocked up everything he’s touched.
If, as Johnson is now saying, no deal will be fantastic for the UK why did they bother with trying to negotiate a deal in the first place ?
Reduced to blathering about remembering the war from Wakefield's finest . Your really couldn't write this crap.