If We Don't Have A National Government Brussels Will Impose A Brexit Deal On Us

Well it has been quite a big week Brexit wise.  Jeremy Corbyn gave a big speech where he said that Labour would keep the UK in the Customs Union.  Theresa May gave a big speech where she said that the Conservatives would, err, I am not sure what she said even though thanks to the snow I was able to watch most of it while working at home. 

Divergence - How It Will Cost Jobs

I was reading a recent Westminster regulation as part of my job the other day.  Divergence is already starting.  It starts with a definition which is similar to but different from the existing one that is in use in the relevant EU regulations.  It might well have been simply that the drafters didn't bother looking at the EU text, or weren't aware of its existence.  Or possibly they felt that they couldn't refer to it without making an otherwise routine bit of legislation into a political football.  Who knows?  But it is already adding to the complexity of my business.  This kind of thing is lose-lose of course.  It will make the UK a harder market for EU and other foreign countries to export into as well as adding to the UK's costs and making us less competitive.  The sooner we get back to common sense and rejoin the better.

Wouldn't It Be Good If We Could Have A Positive Debate About Brexit

Brexit crept up on me.  I didn't take the possibility of a referendum on the subject actually being held seriously.  It didn't look much like David Cameron would win a majority in 2015 so it hardly figured in my thinking back then.   When he did win I didn't think he'd actually go through with it.   After all he came up with an elaborate pantomime about going to Brussels to negotiate a new relationship.  When to my surprise he actually called the referendum it didn't look at all likely the phobes would win.  

Is It Going To Happen?

The strongest argument for keeping going with Brexit is that respecting the democratic will of the people is more important than any other consideration.  And that is certainly true.  So long as there is no real evidence that the 52% who voted to leave have changed their minds then all the arguments in the world that we shouldn't leave count for nothing.  At the moment, no such evidence has appeared.

The Real Reason The UK Is Leaving The EU?

There's a technique in the Quality Assurance business called the 5 whys.  If you have a problem with a product or a process you ask why it happened 5 times.  Why did the brake fail?  The lining was too thin.  Why was it too thin? The drawing was wrong.  Why was it wrong?  The engineer hadn't been trained.  Why wasn't he trained?  There is no training department?  Why is there no training department?  The owner of the factory hasn't set one up.

Brexit Becomes A Culture War

I started 2017 without any idea of how Brexit could be stopped, and assuming it was basically unstoppable.  The majority had voted for it in the referendum and the ruling party and the bulk of the media backed it.  There was little sign of any movement of opinion and so it looked pretty much like a lost cause.  The only slim hope was if opinion started moving markedly away from it.

The Day The Brexit Died

Well today has been the most interesting since the vote itself.  I picked up a story at lunchtime that the Irish border problem had been solved.  There would be ‘regulatory convergence’ or some other waffly phrase that would ensure that there was no need for a hard border between the UK and Ireland.  So in effect Ulster was going to stay in the single market.