Re: Article 10 NI protocol

We could always have had better standards when we were a member of the EU, for instance the 27th and 28th editions of electrical standards went beyond CE standards in many areas so your point is mute

Nobody in their right mind thinks trading the EU on WTO terms is sensible which is why Boris didn’t walk away

All the trade agreements with key trading countries are rolled over and Japan took the opportunity to give us a worse deal than they gave the EU. If as a member of the EU we didn’t like the terms of a trade agreement we always had the power of veto. Remember the Belgian Walloons doing exactly that with the CETA agreement? So what’s the premise of your argument


There are many reasons why people voted to leave, the most common being a dislike of immigrants, something Farage has amplified to underpin his grifting. Some people claim sovereignty but we always had sovereignty. Then there are the wealthy backers who saw opportunity in disaster capitalism and orchestrated Data harvesting via social media and targeting messages at individuals, playing on their fears and prejudices. Lastly there were those who believed that leaving the EU under which the UK had prospered for the last 40 years, becoming the sixth largest in term of GDP and leading the G7 in terms of growth would make the UK more prosperous and their lives better with more funding for the NHS and social services. Oh, almost forgot, there’s the fishermen as well

With the exception of the wealthy Brexit backers and the grifters I don’t think the majority did sufficient research to truly understand the pros and cons of being in or outside the EU and mainly voted on the basis of prejudice or nationalism.

But, we are where we are and now is the time for those who voted for it to deliver those Brexit bonuses or have some honest and humility and take ownership of the downsides. I won’t be holding my breath though...

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

Only small downsides are attributable to brexit as for now. Half of the trucks leaving britain for the continent and exporting only british air cannot be differentiated between brexit and covid. After all, much of goods from ireland now skip the landroute and use the new alternative ferries. It will be some months before the picture of the new reality will be fully developed.

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

We did have better standards than the EU anyway. Most of them originate from here.

And people didn't vote leave for the dislike of immigrants it was the dislike of single market rules which meant open borders and for the UK to have control of them.

We never had sovereignty either - we were under control by the EU commission, an unelected bureaucracy which we were unable to vote out of office. We had no control over borders, trade, standards or just about anything else.

You still don't understand why we voted leave.

The EU became the 5th biggest global economy even though we were part of the EU. Since we left our, economy out performed all the 27, most of them put together.

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

I suggest a less biased approach: why not call it "side effects" instead of "downsides"? When I was British and had voted leave, my most desired target would be sovereignty and independence. Potential job losses and/or business declines would then be just side effects because I would still fully meet my target.

Judging the new reality is a bit difficult I think because the reality continuously changes. Trade has shifted away from the EU (as you mentioned earlier) and will continue to decrease with the EU. At least that is what leavers say. Maybe exporting fresh vegs from the EU to the UK will be too expensive at some point and the UK will be sourcing everything from outside the EU. That will take time and I think the reality will be changing everytime.

In my opinion no country can be fully independent from all others but the levers think the UK can be. That means that Brexit is a success.

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

Don’t forget the fish and all the (non bulk) exporters of foodstuffs

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

You have successfully defeated you own argument on standards as we could always have better ones

The most common reason cited for voting Brexit was immigrants taking jobs and using up NHS and school resources.

You clearly do not understand sovereignty and how the EU commission is beholding to elected heads of state

It is always difficult to understand things that are undefinable and unmeasurable as everyone seems to have different reasons because the only common consensus war to leave.
You probably believed that leaving would make our fishermen richer

We were still under EU rules when our growth was the best in the G7 as we were still in the transition period. We only left on 31/12/3020 just over 3 months ago

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

We did have better ones but standards are very much different to rules, especially when standards and rules favour Germany and not the UK.

I did vote to leave believing it would make our fishermen richer but my main reasons regarding fishing was on conservation. Currently the CFP policy is still applied and day after day our seas are destroyed by our fishing

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

100% full ack! I wished more people stopped eating fish and animals in general

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

Maybe it sounds harsh, but when the seas are so depleted that industrial fishing is no longer economical efficient, the trawlers and fishers will leave. It will give marine life time to restore itself.

Re: Article 10 NI protocol

Could you name some standards which were better and are now worse and furthermore favouring Germany? I could not name one, so thank you in advance.