The Official Brexit Thread - The Transition Period.

[Skoda_newby]

19 minutes ago, Lee01 said:

There's fifty three countries in The Commonwealth. Take out The UK, Canada, India, NZ & Aus and the remaining forty eight combined have the same nominal GDP as France. 

 

 

Well yes, no surprises there. Population of Australia is almost a third of the UK's. Distance is a factor etc. Australia will trade happily, but it won't be the only player.

 

And for goodness sake, we will still trade with the EU.....

Edited 22 January, 2020 by Skoda_newby

[CWARD]

2 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Do you like having employment rights?

 

Come on Ken, employment rights and H&S are nothing to do with unions if the Brexit threads are to be believed. If it wasn't for the EU we would all still be working in Victorian work houses according to some Remainers.

[Aspman]

4 hours ago, Skoda_newby said:

 

You can go too far with unions. I understand why they are in place, but no-one can deny they can become a handbrake for a company's progress.

 

 

They can go too far, yes but without them we'll end up with far more Uber and Amazon type employers where you're not an employee you're a supplied resource on a zero hour contract

 

Uber calls all its drivers "independent contractors" which it does to try to excuse the company from being responsible for any employee rights at all.

Uber is one of the nastiest companies around.

 

Companies operating like this are not moving us forward, they're a massive step back to Victorian type employment.

 

 

Edited 22 January, 2020 by Aspman
speelin

[Skoda_newby]

6 minutes ago, Aspman said:

 

They can go to far, yes but without them we'll end up with far more Uber and Amazon type employers where you're not an employee you're a supplied resource on a zero hour contract

 

Uber calls all its drivers "independent contractors" which it does to try to excuse the company from being responsible for any employee rights at all.

Uber is one of the nastiest companies around.

 

Companies operating like this are not moving us forward, they're a massive step back to Victorian type employment.

 

 

 

Agreed. I'm pretty sure that's where I was coming from.

 

Re Uber, they have come in to clean up where the LDTA and NTA have let customers down. Excessive fees, poor service; they all contribute. Uber wouldn't exist if people didn't want change. I don't condone all their actions, but I've not been in an Uber cab where the driver isn't happy with his lot.

[gadgetman]

4 hours ago, Skoda_newby said:

 

 

 

For example, you only have to look at our roadworks. What a farce. 3 years to add an extra lane to a short section of motorway? In some parts of the world, whole trans-national motorways are built in this time.

 

 

Nothing to do with slow working then. 

 

The whole A14 bypass has been built including major infrastructure in the time its taken to widen a 20 mile stretch of the M1

[shyVRS245]

4 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Do you like having employment rights?

Where I work there are no robots just temps (surprisingly similar).

[shyVRS245]

9 minutes ago, gadgetman said:

Nothing to do with slow working then. 

 

The whole A14 bypass has been built including major infrastructure in the time its taken to widen a 20 mile stretch of the M1

Our delivery drivers trying to get to our Cambridge store have loved the experience of the long 40mph contraflow and constant roadworks.

[@Lee]

Don't worry, at this rate there won't be many cars built in Britain anyway. But then again, it shows what a UK/ US trade deal would entail; UK does what they're told or lump it.
 

Quote

Davos, Switzerland (CNN Business)Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that the United States would consider imposing tariffs on cars made in the United Kingdom if the country moves ahead with a tax on digital services.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/22/business/steven-mnuchin-uk-car-taxes/index.html

[shyVRS245]

Ken's emptying his bag of not helpful's. Save some for Lee.

[@Lee]

More on that US tariffs on cars just dropped into my inbox.
 

Washington and Brussels put pressure on Brexit Britain

By Tony Barber January 22, 2020

Part of the economic thinking behind Brexit, in rightwing Anglosphere circles, is that it will liberate the UK from the supposed shackles of EU membership. Then a resurgent “global Britain” will be free to roam far and wide across the world’s commercial horizons, especially English-speaking ones. For Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government colleagues, the biggest prize is a trade deal with the US. This, they hope, will be more ambitious than anything likely to be negotiated between Washington and the future 27-nation EU. In practice, the UK is discovering that even close allies can be very hard-nosed when it comes to trade. By unmooring itself from the EU, the world’s largest commercial bloc, London is making itself vulnerable to simultaneous pressure from Washington and Brussels — although Sajid Javid, UK chancellor, told an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Britain would prioritise a trade agreement with the EU over a deal with the US. In the US case, three recent examples stand out. In Davos this week, US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin gave a blunt warning that, if the UK pursued plans for a digital tax that would hit Amazon, Google and other US companies, London would face retaliatory trade tariffs. It may turn out that the UK follows France’s example and finds a way of defusing the dispute with the US over digital taxes. But Mr Mnuchin’s words were more than a straw in the wind. Richard Goldberg, who until early January served on President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, drew an explicit connection last week between Mr Johnson’s desire for a US-UK trade deal and British loyalty to Washington on big foreign policy issues. Referring to the Iran nuclear deal, Mr Goldberg said: “The question for prime minister Johnson is: ‘As you are moving towards Brexit . . . what are you going to do post 31 January as you come to Washington to negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States?’” Mr Goldberg added: “It’s absolutely in his interests and the people of Great Britain’s interests to join with President Trump, with the United States, to realign your foreign policy away from Brussels, and to join the maximum pressure campaign to keep all of us safe.” The third example is the visit to London this month of a US delegation that carried the message that the British government should not jeopardise intelligence co-operation with Washington by permitting Huawei, the Chinese company, to play a part in setting up the UK’s 5G cellular networks. As for Brussels, the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Foster reports today that the European Commission has warned EU governments that they should not let UK industry bodies certify that tradeable goods conform to EU standards. If this hard line were to become official EU policy, it would create such severe frictions that London might end up with more modest trading arrangements with its nearest neighbours than the EU has agreed with Canada and Japan. Under a second commission proposal, the UK could be fined or lose preferential access to EU markets if it were to violate the terms of any future trade deal with Brussels. True, the commission does not yet have a mandate to speak for all EU governments in trade negotiations with the British. However, the very fact that such ideas are up for discussion among EU policymakers is a strong sign that Brussels plans to stand its ground against the Johnson government’s determination to diverge from EU rules and standards.

[moley]

5 hours ago, Lee01 said:

500 jobs to go at JLR. Of course, it's 'project fear' or 'diesel' though. Right?
 

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/business-51150427?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5e28248c880a1e067680dee4%26JLR job losses are 'fresh blow to the car industry'%262020-01-22T10%3A43%3A29.128Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:8018d5ed-51ae-49e6-a767-4badf951747e&pinned_post_asset_id=5e28248c880a1e067680dee4&pinned_post_type=share

Is Brexit the reason for Opel laying off 2100 workers?

[@Lee]

6 minutes ago, moley said:

Is Brexit the reason for Opel laying off 2100 workers?

Opel aren't the subject here. JLR are and so is brexit. The UK is leaving the EU (brexit). Germany isn't.
 

Quote

Simply put, whataboutism refers to the bringing up of one issue in order to distract from the discussion of another.

 

[gadgetman]

1 hour ago, shyVRS245 said:

Our delivery drivers trying to get to our Cambridge store have loved the experience of the long 40mph contraflow and constant roadworks.

But you can see progress, and not 8 people watching another dig a hole as you see with other projects such as the M1 and M6 works currently taking place. 

[gadgetman]

So extending the transition has been ruled out, prevented by Parliament. 

 

 And then this 

 

 

 

Anyone ready yet to admit everything Boris has promised about brexit has been proved false? 

[shyVRS245]

1 hour ago, moley said:

Is Brexit the reason for Opel laying off 2100 workers?

Not sure Lee has grasped there is a WORLDWIDE RECESSION on at the moment and consumers are being careful about purchasing big ticket items (Jaguars and Land Rovers are not in the budget category).

[CWARD]

I’ll just leave this here

 

A thousand EU financial firms plan to open UK offices after Brexit

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-banks/a-thousand-eu-financial-firms-plan-to-open-uk-offices-after-brexit-idUSKBN1ZJ00D

[shyVRS245]

1 hour ago, gadgetman said:

But you can see progress, and not 8 people watching another dig a hole as you see with other projects such as the M1 and M6 works currently taking place. 

Hardly surprising as work began on the 21 mile stretch between Huntingdon and Cambridge in November 2016 and is due for completion by the end of 2020. Just the 4 years of misery for anyone who had the misfortune to use that road, me included in November 2018.

[shyVRS245]

3 minutes ago, CWARD said:

I’ll just leave this here

 

A thousand EU financial firms plan to open UK offices after Brexit

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-banks/a-thousand-eu-financial-firms-plan-to-open-uk-offices-after-brexit-idUSKBN1ZJ00D

That sounds like bad news.............for European workers.

[moley]

1 hour ago, Lee01 said:

Opel aren't the subject here. JLR are and so is brexit. The UK is leaving the EU (brexit). Germany isn't.
 

 

Looking through various media reports regarding JLR and there is no mention of Brexit as a reason for cutting production from three shifts to two shifts. Opel didn't mention Brexit as a reason for redundancies either, just falling sales.  

Quote

The plant, which produces the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport, will switch its operating pattern in April, affecting around 10% of its 4000-strong workforce (excluding agency staff).

 

The British manufacturer said in a statement: "Through its ongoing transformation programme, JLR is taking action to optimise performance, enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business.

 

[CWARD]

UK holds more foreign investment than Germany and France combined

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-holds-more-foreign-investment-than-germany-and-france-combined

[CWARD]

more bad news
 

UK OUTPERFORMS EVERY OTHER EU ECONOMY IN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/15/uk-tech-investment-outpaced-us-and-china-in-2019-study-says.html

[shyVRS245]

9 minutes ago, CWARD said:

more bad news
 

UK OUTPERFORMS EVERY OTHER EU ECONOMY IN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/15/uk-tech-investment-outpaced-us-and-china-in-2019-study-says.html

Oh dear stop it I can't take much more of this in the next 9 days until Celebration Day.

[@Lee]

3 hours ago, CWARD said:

I’ll just leave this here

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-banks/a-thousand-eu-financial-firms-plan-to-open-uk-offices-after-brexit-idUSKBN1ZJ00D

Not quite the scorcher it appears when you read it though is it? A BXP Ltd. member was ribbed on Twitter yesterday for posting the same article  
 

Quote

“In practical terms, these figures mean that European firms will be buying office space, hiring staff and engaging legal and professional advisers in the UK,” Bovill said.

 

These are small offices to serve the  UK market because it's more certain there will be no agreement for frictionless trade in services.
It points out that this will help to mitigate the far greater economic damage done by the same financial firms moving out. We've lost all the head offices and gained small local branches instead so yay! 
Remember, £1 Trillion in assets have gone. JPM have bought a second office in Paris.
 

Quote

JPMorgan Chase has bought a second building in the heart of Paris capable of holding 450 people, as it plans to relocate some services and teams from London after Brexit.

https://www.internationalinvestment.net/news/4009300/jpmorgan-buys-paris-office-relocate-teams-following-brexit

[@Lee]

3 hours ago, CWARD said:

UK holds more foreign investment than Germany and France combined

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-holds-more-foreign-investment-than-germany-and-france-combined

That report was published in June 2019 but covers 2018 
 

Quote

The UK held more inwards Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stock than Germany and France combined by the end of 2018, according to the latest United Nations data released today.

'Held'. Past tense  I suppose we'll need to see what the report for 2019 says when it's published later this year. IF it's published at all

Quote

 

[shyVRS245]

In Auto Express this week (issue 1610) a new start up British firm called Arrival founded in 2015 has been working with EV Projects with the Royal Mail, DPD and DHL. Following its work on Generation 2.0 EV's it has signed an £85 million deal with KIA/Hyundai to help with development of future electric vehicles. More evidence of Asian companies wishing to invest in Britain post Brexit.