Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
I'm afraid I'm not party to Pierre's views on the psychology at play here.
We held all the cards for the easiest trade deal ever, so I'm surprised at the need to renegotiate a fantastic deal.
Johnson should have learnt from the Paterson scandal that trying to change the rules during the game rarely works.
Marking your own homework neatly describes what he wanted to do in Parliament by appointing a new standards committee dominated by the governing party. The Single Market is overseen by the ECJ and that's why it is involved in Northern Ireland. That link cannot be broken simply because the right wing of the Conservative Party have an ideological aversion to it.
Here's some information on Article 16.
https://davidallengreen.com/2021/09/...ng-to-trigger/ |
I think you’re missing the point. Nobody is floating Art.16 as “reprisals”, except, possibly, the EC, which has its own reasons for casting the UK position in those terms. Plus other assorted sympathisers with an interest in presenting a strawman as an alternative to the UK’s actual position.
The point about Art.16 is it is a way of suspending most, if not all, of the irksome rules the UK wants rid of *while that collaborative review takes place*. And if the UK’s use of Art.16 is questioned as procedurally unsound, its invocation continues to apply while that undergoes legal challenge. Either way, invocation sweeps aside lots of rules interfering with the UK internal market, for quite possibly an extended period of time.
Those opposed to the UK’s position are by now so entrenched in their “gunboat diplomacy” narrative they can’t but assume Art.16 is HMG’s endgame, or perhaps just a defiant, jingoistic broadside from HMS Victory. It isn’t. When it is invoked -as it almost certainly will be - the EC will lose much of the regulation over goods that it has been trying to hold on to, for quite possibly a long while. Will they tolerate that while pursuing legal challenges or collaborative processes? Or will they suddenly improve their offer for fear of the new reality on the ground (or rather, in the Irish Sea) becoming the de facto settlement?