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UK Should Threaten Ireland says UKIP Spokesman

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  • UK Should Threaten Ireland says UKIP Spokesman

    Britain should threaten the “weak” Republic of Ireland with new border controls in order to get its way over Brexit, Ukip has said.

    Gerard Batten, the party Brexit spokesperson, said Ireland was “a tiny country that relies on UK for its existence” and that it amounted to “the weakest kid in the playground sucking up to the EU bullies”.

    The MEP said the UK had been “threatened” by the Republic over the issue of the Irish border after Brexit and that Britain should “respond in like manner”.
    se for Northern Ireland staying in customs union

    “We should advise, we are free to revoke common travel area,” he said, adding that the Republic was “nothing but a subservient client state to the EU”.

    Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said earlier this month that Ireland needed “written” assurances from the UK that there would be no return to a hard border between the north and the Republic after Brexit – a position both sides have said they support.

    The Taoiseach hinted that if no such written promise was made Ireland would not deem sufficient progress to have been made in negotiations to move to trade talks at the upcoming December European Council summit.

    If “sufficient progress”, as defined by the EU, is not agreed in December, the next opportunity to start trade and transition talks will be in March – throwing the Brexit talks timetable into even more disarray and dramatically increasing the likelihood of a ‘no deal’.



    After an outcry on social media Mr Batten doubled down and said it was “amazing how upset some people have got because I have suggested Ireland threatening to derail [a] Brexit agreement could invoke a response”.

    Ireland is currently part of the Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom, which has existed since 1923 and means travellers do not require a passport to travel between the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man and channel islands.

    Both are also currently members of the EU customs union, meaning goods moved between the two countries do not need customs checks – but Theresa May has committed the UK to leaving it as part of her plans for a hard Brexit.
    Links

    The EU, Ireland, and UK are wrestling with how to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland – as required by the Good Friday agreement – while also ensuring the EU still has an external customs border.

    The European Parliament and European Commission have suggested customs checks could be moved to ports on the Irish Sea, effectively keeping NI in the customs union and putting a customs between two parts of the United Kingdom.

    The DUP, on which the Government relies on to have a majority in the House of Commons, has however ruled out any such plan, as has David Davis the Brexit Secretary.

    The issue was one of two which, along with the financial settlement, European Council president Donald Tusk has said requires “much more progress” before December’s European Council summit.

    In a statement sent to The Independent after the initial publication of this article, Ukip head of delegation Ray Finch MEP said the party’s Brexit spokesperson did not speak for the party on the issue.

    “Mr Batten’s late night tweets do not reflect UKIP policy or sentiment,” he said.

    “We wish to maintain free trade and free movement between the North and South of Ireland, full stop.”




    Instead, Mr Finch said that the best way of solving the border issue was for Ireland to leave the EU too.

    “Outside the EU, Ireland would once again operate as a sovereign self-determining State with the opportunity for global Free trade, and an independent foreign policy without membership of an EU army,” he said.

    “The best way to avoid the European Commission imposing a hard border is to create an equal partnership of independent states outside EU.”

  • #2
    Somewhere in Little England a village has lost it's idiot...
    Everything is self-evident.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by cogito View Post
      Somewhere in Little England a village has lost it's idiot...
      He gets bitter when he is full of Bitter.

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      • #4
        I see the British have agreed to give the eec 45 billion as compensation for them leaving the Union.Quinner will turn over in his grave or wherever he is.

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        • #5
          A Channel 4 news report asked British people on the street to draw the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland on a map.

          The results are best described as mixed.

          Some make a decent stab at it but most of those asked to draw the border include Donegal in the UK.

          Others make less accurate attempts at drawing the line that has existed for almost a century, with one cutting the country in half just below the Dublin to Galway line.
          Channel 4 border.jpg
          This was one of the attempts

          Those who were quizzed by Channel 4 were also asked for what they thought about the border issue in relation to Brexit.

          While some raised legitimate concerns about the free movement of people between north and south and how that would work in a post-Brexit world, others were less sympathetic to the issue.

          One person suggested the best solution would be for Ireland to leave the EU too and another said Ireland was "just making trouble because they lost" before saying that "the southern Irish have to lump it, basically."

          Earlier in the day a news report featured former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith who said that Ireland was 'showboating' over the border issue because of an upcoming presidential election, which doesn't show a huge level of understanding of the Irish political system either.

          A presidential election won't take place here until November next year and, of course, the result would have no bearing on any policy taken by the government as the role is largely ceremonial.

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          • #6
            I don't actually understand the border issue either though Bo, could you explain it for me? If I try reading articles about it my brain shuts off after a while, so please just explain it in plain language with no links.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by KatieMorag View Post
              I don't actually understand the border issue either though Bo, could you explain it for me? If I try reading articles about it my brain shuts off after a while, so please just explain it in plain language with no links.
              Ok , heres my reading of it . Prior to the early 90s , if you travelled over the border either north or south you had to go through customs , who would check your car for goods with no import tax declared etc. basically like going through customs at an airport . A big inconvenience as you can imagine .Commercial vehicles could be there for hours on end in both directions waiting to get clearance of their goods . This was ended in about 1992 when the EU intoduced the customs union and the single market as well , meaning that there would be no tariffs between EU countries .
              This arrangement will end after Brexit because the UK is insisting on leaving the Customs union and single market , thus creating customs posts that will hinder the movement of an estimated 30000 that cross the border daily .
              At the moment , the only way you notice you are entering a different jurisdiction is ,that in the North the speeding limit is miles in the north and KM in the South , and thats the way we want to keep it . there are lots of other reasons but that would be the most obvious .

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              • #8
                Originally posted by bojangles View Post
                Ok , heres my reading of it . Prior to the early 90s , if you travelled over the border either north or south you had to go through customs , who would check your car for goods with no import tax declared etc. basically like going through customs at an airport . A big inconvenience as you can imagine .Commercial vehicles could be there for hours on end in both directions waiting to get clearance of their goods . This was ended in about 1992 when the EU intoduced the customs union and the single market as well , meaning that there would be no tariffs between EU countries .
                This arrangement will end after Brexit because the UK is insisting on leaving the Customs union and single market , thus creating customs posts that will hinder the movement of an estimated 30000 that cross the border daily .
                At the moment , the only way you notice you are entering a different jurisdiction is ,that in the North the speeding limit is miles in the north and KM in the South , and thats the way we want to keep it . there are lots of other reasons but that would be the most obvious .
                Thanks Bo - so Ireland is just unhappy about the potential inconvenience and financial consequences of re-instating these customs posts? If the South is still in the EU and the North isn't, what can the UK actually do about it to satisfy the Irish?

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by KatieMorag View Post
                  Thanks Bo - so Ireland is just unhappy about the potential inconvenience and financial consequences of re-instating these customs posts? If the South is still in the EU and the North isn't, what can the UK actually do about it to satisfy the Irish?
                  The Irish government are asking for a written undertaking that there will always be a friction less border , which is part of the Good Friday Agreement .
                  The British Government are unwilling to do this so Ireland said they will veto any EU arrangement on trade unless they do this .
                  A friction less border and being out of the customs union is going to be virtually impossible to achieve .

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by bojangles View Post
                    The Irish government are asking for a written undertaking that there will always be a friction less border , which is part of the Good Friday Agreement .
                    The British Government are unwilling to do this so Ireland said they will veto any EU arrangement on trade unless they do this .
                    A friction less border and being out of the customs union is going to be virtually impossible to achieve .
                    still not sure i understand it......so Ireland wants the UK to stay in the customs union? To retain this "frictionless border"? (I know I sound really thick here lol!)

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by KatieMorag View Post
                      still not sure i understand it......so Ireland wants the UK to stay in the customs union? To retain this "frictionless border"? (I know I sound really thick here lol!)
                      Correct , and most Britons as well .

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                      • #12
                        I never want to see the border of the past ever again, it has been so nice to drive to Donegal through northern counties and see the borders fade away over the years

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by KatieMorag View Post
                          still not sure i understand it......so Ireland wants the UK to stay in the customs union? To retain this "frictionless border"? (I know I sound really thick here lol!)
                          While it would be better for the UK to stay in the Customs Union from our point of view, neither the Irish Government or the EU have requested this - what is being sought is that Northern Ireland stays within the Customs Union which would mean that the border would move to the island of Britain.

                          This may be acceptable to many on the British mainland (including Ireland and the EU) to allow a trade deal to progress, it's totally unacceptable to the DUP on whom Theresa May relies upon for her parliamentary majority.

                          This despite the fact that a majority in NI voted to remain within the EU.

                          The British cannot guarantee a 'frictionless border' with the Republic if NI leaves the Customs Union.
                          Last edited by cogito; 01-12-2017, 11:21 PM.
                          Everything is self-evident.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by cogito View Post
                            ....The British cannot guarantee a 'frictionless border' with the Republic if NI leaves the Customs Union.
                            And without a written guarantee from the British on the 'frictionless border' then the EU - who so far have fully backed the Irish stance - are set to reject the British attempt to move on to phase two of the negotiations which relate to British trade deals with the EU post-Brexit in a year's time.

                            Varadkar has total support on this approach from Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin - he wouldn't last an hour if he departed from that script. Ireland will not accept a re-partitioning of the island under any circumstances irrespective of any shouting and roaring from the DUP and Brexiteer headbangers.
                            Everything is self-evident.

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                            • #15
                              so why are the DUP/Brexiteers so against it? What possible advantage could it have for them? ie what is their case?

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