The future of the EU and the UK, post-Brexit

This is fascinating.

The BBC and the establishment left mass media in Britain and around the world have just lost their all-in, no holds barred, 4+ year anti-Brexit, pro-Remain propaganda campaign against not only Britain's plan to leave the EU, but also against those people who supported it. This campaign was coordinated, it was aggressively nasty, relentlessly deceitful and it was all conducted right out in the open on worldwide television and on the front pages of the most popular print newspapers in the West for all to see.

Now the BBC Director General Lord Hall is out publicly rejecting all claims of bias and insisting that the 'People trust us'.

BBC director-general rejects claims of election bias and says: 'People trust us'

The BBC director-general has rejected all claims of bias in its election coverage, insisting the corporation has the public's trust. Lord Hall of Birkenhead said provoking the ire of both the Conservative and Labour parties proved that the BBC is impartial. In his first public riposte to accusations of political bias, Lord Hall said the BBC remains "the envy of the world". Writing in The Telegraph, he said:

“Around 27 million people in the UK came to the BBC website to find out about the election results. It was a reminder of the trust people place in the BBC.”

In a two-week period during the election campaign, the BBC received a record 24,435 complaints. It was criticised for broadcasting a monologue by Andrew Neil where he savaged Boris Johnson's refusal to give him an interview.​

They have lost, in no small part because they have been selfish, biased and untrustworthy. This vote on December 12 was to no small degree the people of the UK telling the establishment left mass media to stick it you know where and that they were not going to be dictated to by these people in their voting decisions. Good on the people of the UK for their integrity, wisdom and courage in responding to all of this the way that they did.

You cannot fix a problem until you first identify it and accept that you have one. You have to take responsibility. But these people appear to be dead-set on continuing along the same path of denial and failure.

 

Now that the elections are past, Nigel Farage has lowered his weapons, and is now declaring that Boris Johnson is taking the UK 'To the right place'.

He is also predicting ONLY a one in four chance of the transition period ending without a deal next December, although he continues to correctly insist that they have to be ready to leave without one if it is not a good deal for the UK.

Nigel Farage declares that Boris Johnson is taking the UK to 'the right place' and says Brexiteers will have to compromise

Nigel Farage has declared that Boris Johnson is taking the country to "the right place", as he conceded that Brexiteers will not get everything they want out of a post-Brexit deal with the EU. The Brexit Party leader insisted that the Prime Minister must be prepared to walk away without a trade agreement at the end of next year's transition period, if he fails to win favourable terms from Brussels.

The pro-Brexit campaigner claimed that there was now a one in four chance of the transition period ending without a deal. But Mr Farage said that the UK had now "turned the corner" and was "heading to the right place".​

So that sounds like Farage has a 75% expectation of a marginally acceptable deal, in place by December 31, 2020. That is great news to hear that he thinks that and I hope that he is right.

 

Boris Johnson is preparing public events to celebrate "Brexit day" in the UK on January 31. This will of course be their Independence Day celebration from now on, if they want it to be.

Specific plans led by the British government will apparently be published shortly. Nigel Farage has already booked "Parliament Square" and is expected to spend £100,000 on that celebratory event, which sounds quite a bit like our Fourth of July, with its fireworks, bands, etc.

Brexit: Boris Johnson planning official events to mark departure from EU, No 10 suggests

Boris Johnson is planning official events to mark the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 January, Downing Street has indicated. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said that details of Mr Johnson’s plans for Brexit Day would be announced “shortly”. But he declined to say whether Mr Johnson will give the government’s support to a parliamentary move by Brexit hardliners to require Big Ben to be sounded at 11pm on Brexit Day as the UK’s membership lapses.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is planning to throw a £100,000 “celebration” party in Parliament Square on the night of EU withdrawal, with fireworks, bands and speakers. Mr Farage told The Daily Telegraph the event would be an “upbeat, optimistic, genuine celebration with no direct political edge whatsoever”.​

Of course food is a central feature of any such festivities here in the United States. At our Independence Day celebrations, people commonly enjoy hot dogs, barbecue, watermelon, ice cream, and maybe the odd beer or two.

I don't thing they are super-big hot dog or barbecue fans in the UK. So I wonder what sorts of culinary traditions that the British might develop for their Independence Day going forward. Just guessing, but maybe bacon butties, perhaps some haggis, possibly even chicken vindaloo on naan bread (served kind of like a really big taco). And maybe the odd beer or two.

 

The UK House of Commons has given final approval to Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement Bill ("The Deal" or "WAB"). The vote was 330-231, a margin of 99.

Brexit: MPs give final backing to Withdrawal Agreement Bill

MPs have given their final backing to the bill that will implement the UK government's Brexit deal.
The Commons voted 330 to 231 in favour of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and it will now pass to the House of Lords for further scrutiny next week. If peers choose to amend it will it come back before MPs.

The bill covers "divorce" payments to the EU, citizens' rights, customs arrangements for Northern Ireland and the planned 11-month transition period. The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 January.​

This "Third reading" vote was actually somewhat of a formality after the earlier passage of the bill on the
"Second reading". The bill will now go to the House of Lords, who can still try to engage in some shenanigans, but after the outcome of the recent election are not expected to do so.

The Lords have no effective power over the final passage of this bill.

 

And if the Lords fail to pass it, since there will be no extension, in that case the UK will leave the EU on January 31, 2020 with do deal. So they better pull it together here for this one.

 

The UK actually has a lot of leverage over the EU in the upcoming trade talks. For example, the UK will now have rights to control its own territorial waters with regards to fishing access. That works well for the UK, but it is a real setback for the rest of the EU, which has regarded these waters as effectively theirs, up until now.

Panicking EU threatens to make UK pay if fishing access is blocked after Brexit

Britain could find itself embroiled in another ‘cod war’ after Brexit if it expels foreign boats from its waters, the European Union has warned. Fishing communities the length and breadth of the UK have repeatedly called for European trawlers to be kicked out after the UK leaves the bloc while fishermen on the continent have threatened to retaliate with a blockade of ports. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, made clear the team of negotiators who will kick off talks with Britain after January 31 will push for continued access. Mr Plenkovic said: “We want to avoid any fisheries skirmishes in the Atlantic. We have seen them before, we don’t want to see them again.”​

This is a point of leverage entering into the trade negotiations that are expected to start next month. The EU apparently wants to negotiate matters favorable to themselves first, such as fishing rights, thereby removing the possibility of the UK using these issues as leverage in other areas later.

As far as I can tell, the UK under Boris Johnson is not likely to agree to that approach. But there is still some question about what the arrangements will be for the EU for fishing rights in UK territorial waters, and what the UK might get in return for any concessions that it makes.

 

That could be a while.

 

Sixteen days to go. Tick tock.

 

The Brexit deal is now the official law of the land in the UK and Brexit is all but done.

The UK Parliament passed the bill again on the third reading after it came out of committee last week, after which the House of Lords amended the bill with five amendments and sent it back to the House of Commons. The Lords amendments are not binding on the Commons, however, so the Commons voted to reject them. The Lords then agreed to go along with no further "Ping ponging" back and forth.

If this bill was not agreed to, the UK would have then exited the EU on January 31 with no deal. This bill is the deal, so despite not getting their way, after seeing the wipeout results of the last election, the Lords finally agreed to go along.

The bill was then sent to the Queen for her Royal Consent, which is the final step before a bill becomes a law. That consent was provided today.

Queen grants Boris Johnson's Brexit deal royal assent

The Queen has granted royal assent to Boris Johnson's Brexit deal after it cleared all stages in Parliament. Some MPs cheered as deputy speaker Nigel Evans confirmed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act had received the assent, and was now law, in a short announcement to the Commons.

It marks the clearing of one of the final key hurdles on its path to the UK leaving the EU on Jan 31. The WAB will now be signed at a ceremony in Brussels tomorrow by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council.​

So the agreement will be signed by representatives of the UK and the EU tomorrow in Brussels. The EU Parliament still needs to debate and pass the deal. But again, if they fail to do so, the UK leaves a week from tomorrow with no deal, which would be very bad for the EU, not to mention the UK. So this is considered to be a formality as well.

But it is all so exciting that I will surely provide you with further updates.