Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
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Yes, process is important, given the determination EU bureaucrats, some politicians and others have to try and trip us up.
To me, what we have to negotiate can be summarised as:
1. Ability of EU countries to trade with Britain (and vice versa) free of tariff restrictions. This needs to be signed off without fettering Britain in terms of who it can trade with outside the EU (and without an EU requirement to apply tariffs to such trade).
2. Continued co-operation on security issues.
3. Mutual co-operation regarding repatriation of criminals who have served their sentences and the handing over of criminals to face trial.
4. Agreement on how Britain extracates itself from EU laws.
5. Agreement on permitting EU nationals currently residing in Britain and vice versa to stay and the abolition of the EU requirement for free movement of people into our country.
6. Transitional arrangements to ensure a smooth transfer in the interests of both the EU and UK.
7. Agreement on any remaining financial obligations on both sides, including how grants are dealt with.
These are the main areas to be negotiated and none of this should be news to anyone, and so I don't understand why some are saying that the Government needs to be clear on this.
Of course, it would not be surprising if the EU bureaucrats continued their campaign of penalising Britain for daring to leave, and so if it became clear we were getting nowhere fast, we should tell them that we are leaving without any agreements on these matters and apply WTO rules.
It is pretty simple really, although of course the practical detail of each issue to be negotiated will probably be quite difficult and so getting Parliament's approval in advance of negotiations is not a viable proposition. A vote in Parliament should be done at the end of the negotiations, not at the beginning.