Brexit discussion

[1andrew1]

Bit more on those investigations into the Brexit campaigners.

Britain’s electoral authorities have reopened an investigation into whether Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit campaign, exceeded the £7m limit on campaign spending ahead of the EU referendum.
The investigation centres on the decision by Vote Leave, fronted by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, to give £625,000 in online advertising to Darren Grimes, a 22-year old with little political experience in the ten days before the vote.
Diverting the advertising via Mr Grimes would have allowed Vote Leave to skirt the legal limit on spending during the official campaign period, and could have constituted a legal offence if there was undisclosed co-ordination between the parties.
Mr Grimes, who was a fashion student at the time, also received £50,000 from individual donor Anthony Clarke, who is not a subject of the commission’s investigation.
...
The Commission’s decision to reopen the investigation comes after the Good Law Project, set up by barrister Jo Maugham, threatened to bring legal action. Mr Maugham said it was “extraordinary” that it had taken the Commission so long to look at the issue.
The Commission is also investigating Veterans for Britain, a pro-Brexit campaign group that received £100,000 from Vote Leave three days before the referendum.

https://www.ft.com/content/d79b5872-...1-794ce08b24dc

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by pip08456

It won't change the vote Andrew.

Do you think he's trying to thwart brexit the amount of times I've heard that recently, I wonder if people parroting that phrase know how ridiculous they sound.

In other news some of the main European agencies housed here have left, drugs have gone Amsterdam, appropriate and banking to Paris, inappropriate imo but meh

Not convinced by the divorce bill latest either, imo we should only agree to it on the condition we can just leave it and walk away if we don't like the final terms.

[jonbxx]

Remember those days when David Davis said that the EMA and EBA didn't need to leave London? - https://www.ft.com/content/72ead180-...1-d5f7e0cd0a16

Ah well. Surprised Dublin didn't get the EMA office considering the size of the pharma industry in Ireland.

[Carth]

If my wife wanted to divorce me, her lawyers would rip me a new one without breaking sweat.

So why don't the 'politicians' trying to negotiate simply pull out and send the 'professionals' in.

We'd probably come out of this owning half of Europe

Originally Posted by jonbxx

Remember those days when David Davis said that the EMA and EBA didn't need to leave London? - https://www.ft.com/content/72ead180-...1-d5f7e0cd0a16

Ah well. Surprised Dublin didn't get the EMA office considering the size of the pharma industry in Ireland.

Shock horror, EU agencies leave the U.K. because um, we’re leaving the EU. I hope they shut the door on the way out.

Originally Posted by Mick

Shock horror, EU agencies leave the U.K. because um, we’re leaving the EU. I hope they shut the door on the way out.

I don't think anyone is surprised. It's just a shame for the 1000 or so people who've lost their jobs and local companies that serviced them.

Originally Posted by Damien

I don't think anyone is surprised. It's just a shame for the 1000 or so people who've lost their jobs and local companies that serviced them.

The EU could take them with them or, still have them where they are, but the EU is just playing another tactic, a ‘we’ll show you’, kind of attitude. Screw them (the EU that is).

I see Nicola Sturgeon, was quick to thank us Brexiteers for their departure. Up yours too, Nicola.

Originally Posted by Mick

The EU could take them with them or, still have them where they are, but the EU is just playing another tactic, a ‘we’ll show you’, kind of attitude. Screw them (the EU that is).

I see Nicola Sturgeon, was quick to thank us Brexiteers for their departure. Up yours too, Nicola.

Shouldn't EU Agencies be in an EU country?

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Mick

Shock horror, EU agencies leave the U.K. because um, we’re leaving the EU. I hope they shut the door on the way out.

Yes it's awful. Who could possibly have predicted that. If only I'd known I'd have voted to stay in the EU. I demand a second referendum...*



* and then a third if the result remains the same.

[jonbxx]

Apparently, up to 81% of the EMA staff currently based in London would be willing to move to Amsterdam (link) which is good news for both the EMA and its' staff. Of course, it's bad news for the MHRA who is going to need some regulators sharpish if we leave the EMA (and its' cost and ECJ arbitration)

Of course we have some staff already but EMA has had overview on drugs for the following conditions;

• human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS);
• cancer;
• diabetes;
• neurodegenerative diseases;
• auto-immune and other immune dysfunctions;
• viral diseases.

Plus

• medicines derived from biotechnology processes, such as genetic engineering;
• advanced-therapy medicines, such as gene-therapy, somatic cell-therapy or tissue-engineered medicines;
• orphan medicines (medicines for rare diseases);
• veterinary medicines for use as growth or yield enhancers.

But hey, as Michael Gove said '..people of this country have had enough of experts with organisations from acronyms'

The current thinking is we'll pay to use somes of these agencies on an ongoing biases because there are so many different areas to cover, it will be expensive to set-up and they're largely if not completely be in-tune with their EU counterparts anyway.

[jonbxx]

That does seem to be the likely outcome for this and a number of other agencies which is eminently sensible. Other non-EU countries do already of course. However, there may be some hard sells;

• We will need to pay for it out of our £350m per week
• The arbitration bodies are often the ECJ
• We may have no say in the running of these agencies (this is the case for the EMA with Norway, Iceland, etc.)

[Bircho]

Originally Posted by Damien

I don't think anyone is surprised. It's just a shame for the 1000 or so people who've lost their jobs and local companies that serviced them.

Approximately 76,000 room nights in hotels alone (which is just short of 1% of hotel business in London). That is just those two agencies - it will be a lot more when the financial sector start to move out.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Shouldn't EU Agencies be in an EU country?

Absolutely, so if this is some lame attempt by the EU, to lay some of kind of guilt trip on us Brexiteers, it does not with me.

[Osem]

Wasn't that long ago that a few folks around here, the Labour party and elsewhere were telling us that the City could bugger off en masse. Now apparently shedding however many banking jobs to the EU is terrible for the UK and a reason for us not to leave the EU. Odd how perspectives can be changed to suit an argument.