Not up to EU to say what Westminster wants.

Obviously, but I don't believe I said they are trying to tell Westminster what it wants. You said the EU wanted us gone, but their words and actions don't match that premise, which is all I said. They have their own laws that the UK signed up too and the UK has defaulted on Article 50 3 times to date, by not accepting the only agreement that the EU has agreed to. I think the EU will do what it takes to keep the UK in and will keep agreeing to allow the UK to kick the can down the road each time they request it, so again they do not appear to want the UK gone as you stated.

'A better deal' would have involved 27 countries agreeing to change one or more of the fundamental principles of the EU. That was never going to happen.

Ah the classic British conceit, 'They need us more than we need them'.
As far as I see it the British held a gun to their own head and said we'll shoot unless you give us what we want. So the EU did but it turns out the gun wasn't loaded and in any case the Brits had no idea what they wanted.
Click click!

​​​​

Well the great day cometh and went.....woke up to some pretty dense fog which hung around until lunch.. which seemed an apt metaphor really.

Has the Long March finished with a victorious parade into London then.....or did they just quietly hop on a Tube at Epping ?

"And the next contestant please.........."

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...victim-cartoon

However, out of all the taking heads interviews, one little gem from Simon Schama who thoughtfully suggested that, instead of the "yah, boo, sucks ! we won...... so there ! " percentage perspective, perhaps it would have been a good idea to have included some of the views and wishes of the remain voters in the policies......there again, the Tories have never been noted for pragmatism.. ..and a nice piece in "Private Eye " about one D.Davies who modestly proposed if being the next PM was like becoming a CEO, he would be the perfect candidate ! .....but he did mention, that, sadly, our electoral system sort of prevents this career aspiration...thankfully.

I'm surprised this bit of common sense hasn't received wider circulation


Not that I agree with all her policies

Problem with that speech is that she appears to be trying to perpetuate the myth, still a convenient one to some to some in politics, that the EU weren't prepared to compromise in any way with David Cameron in 2015/16..In reality they did...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics...endum-35471117

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nd-what-he-got.

However as is in the nature of these things ("negotiations") Cameron didn't get everything he wanted.

I think fundamentaly it was a case of no what he had come back with he was never going to please certain people.

Wiggy, thanks that made ineteresting reading - I interpretted the news at that time that the Cameron team had conceded on all their 'red lines'. Do you (or anybody on here) have a link to a similar summary of the Brexit negotiations showing which concessions the EU side have made from their opening stance? It'd have to be fairly short because my attention span on the topic has, unfortunately, shrunk over the years. All I've been able to glean is the EU27 camp saying "tell us what you want" (and, it seems, we'll tell that you can't have it).

MB

I cannot imagine any of the UK TV stations would show it. The BBC gets £millions from the EU and as for the Guardian being unbiased...…. dream on!

The can will be kicked down the road until article 50 is revoked and we stay in the EU, which was the plan in the first place since the referendum vote returned the wrong answer. The EU have a certain track record on getting the result they want, and Parliament is seemingly complicit.

[QUOTE=Blossy;10434964] The BBC gets £millions from the EU ...…. /QUOTE]

Tell us more please Blossy. I worked for that outfit for 35 years, so maybe the EU largesse was after I left.

I don't see anything there about money - just another Farage rant.

£2m over 3 years ?....that's pretty meagre really...how about.... the amount the UK has received from the EU in comparison....not that the UK needs external funding from the EU of course....perish the thought we might actually be beneficiaries after all !

https://researchbriefings.parliament...mmary/CBP-7847

Such largesse!

Remind us what the annual UK contribution is.

I hope for your own sake that you outsource your financial planning

As we will probably not know from the OP, our contribution in 2017 was £13bn as we had a rebate of £5.6 bn, but a beneficent EU gave us £4bn.

https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-m...ee-55-million/

In contrast the German contribution was €19.6 bn and they received €10.9 bn.
France was €16.2 bn and they received €13.5 bn.

​https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/germany_en​​​​​​
​https://europa.eu/european-union/abo...ries/france_en​​

As you are not giving any source for your claim, let me correct the figures for you:
nett payment:
France 4.57 Bill €
UK 5.35 Bill €
Germany 10.68 Bill €

Source: de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/38139/umfrage/nettozahler-und-nettoempfaengerlaender-in-der-eu/

Be careful ThorMos.
These guys find facts very confusing.