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There would be nothing more dangerous than extending the implementation period, in a torture that, as we all remember, came to resemble Lucy snatching away Charlie Brown’s football or Prometheus chained to the Tartarian crag, his liver pecked out by an eagle and then growing back, as honorable members on both sides of the house will recall, only to be pecked out again, with the cycle repeated forever. This bill, unlike opposition members, learns the emphatic lesson of the last parliament and rejects any further delay.
Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, has said that the next Labor leader should be credible, competent and popular with voters. (See(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (am.)
Rebecca Long Bailey, the shadow business secretary, has published her opening pitch for the Labor leadership.
I’m done for the day too. Thanks for the comments.
Updated at (*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ pm EST (**************************************** (******
From Wednesday at least we will be in a decade that has a name. I might be wrong, but I get the impression that there has been less discussion than you might expect about the last 12 years as an entity, perhaps because no one could agree what it was called. “The tens” never really worked as a label, just as “the noughties” didn’t either.
But the twenties – that’s a proper name for a decade.
Still, it is surprising to see
- Woody Johnson
(**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (AM) ********** (EST): 04Here is some Twitter comment on the Phil Hogan interview. (See3.
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From
Peter Foster, the Daily Telegraph’s Europe editor
From
Mujtaba Rahman, the (Brexit) ************** (specialist at the Eurasia consultancy) Mujtaba Rahman(@ Mij_Europe)Perhaps even more interestingly, seems@ PhilHoganEUis not going to play second fiddle to @ MichelBarnier– and will speak out as he sees fit. Lots of debate in Bxl / EU capitals about who’ll be the principal for EU side in phase 2; I expect more voices (& egos) than on the divorce https://t.co/o euE5aDz (December) ,
FromStewart Jackson, the Tory Brexiter, former MP and former chief of staff to David Davis when he was Brexit secretary
Stewart Jackson(@ BrexitStewart)Hogan’s normal megaphone tin eared stuff. UK still isn’t a craven supplicant.https://t.co/SjJCFvzTwX (December) **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
, saying that his timetable might not be feasible. But now one of her colleagues, the trade commissioner
Phil Hogan, has criticized Johnson’s stance in much blunter terms.
Hogan, who is Irish and who will oversee the UK-EU trade negotiation in his new job, told the Irish Timesin an interviewthat Johnson’s ‘no extension’ commitment was a ‘stunt’ and that in reality Johnson would agree to a longer transition. He said:
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In the past, we saw the way the prime minister promised to die in the ditch rather than extend the deadline forBrexit, only for him to do just that. I don’t believe Prime Minister Johnson will die in the ditch over the timeline for the future relationship either …
At first sight [the clause in the bill ruling out an extension] seems very odd indeed. From our point of view it is important that we move from stunt to substance. It would be helpful if the focus was on content rather than timetables.
In another jibe at Johnson, Hogan said that in the next phase of the Brexit talks Britain would have to accept that having your cake and eating it was impossible. He was referring to the phrase, first used by Johnson to sum up his approach to life in general, that became synonymous with the Brexiter belief that the UK could leave the EU but retain most of the benefits of membership. Hogan said:
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Too much of the debate in the UK over the past four years was based on the false notion that it is possible to make a clean-break Brexit while retaining all the benefits of EU membership. Now that the political deadlock at Westminster is broken the next phase of Brexit needs to be based on realism and hard facts.
Any ‘having our cake and eat it’ rhetoric will not fly. Both sides need to proceed calmly and coherently.
In his interview (fuller version (here)
Hogan also restated the EU’s belief that the UK would be worse off outside. He said:
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Particularly on goods the UK government has so far avoided any statement of the UK aligning with the EU on regulatory aspects. We all have to come to terms with the reality that Brexit means there will be two markets not a single market.
We have to re-erect barriers to trade that EU membership has abolished not because we choose to do so but because the UK chooses to do so. As things stand the UK wants to leave the single market and customs union. This move still baffles me because the full consequences of that decision are still not understood in the UK. Why trade a Rolls Royce for a second-hand saloon?
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