There are a ‘lack of things to talk about‘, ex-negotiator argues – one day after collapse in trading links revealed
David Frost has claimed that Brexit has gone “remarkably smoothly”, one day after fresh evidence of rising food costs and firms abandoning trade with the EU.
The negotiator of Boris Johnson’s trade deal – who quit the government last year – claimed there are “lack of things to talk about”, other than the controversy over the Irish Sea trade border it created.
“Occasionally, another issue like fishing or touring performers gets a look in,” he told an event about the future of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“But, generally, it’s actually quite remarkable how smoothly the total reordering of this country’s relations has gone.”
The comments come despite Lord Frost disowning his own agreement for breaking a promise to spare touring musicians and other performers new punishing costs and red tape.
Border bureaucracy also means the UK has “stopped selling” many products to smaller EU countries, according to new evidence of the impact of leaving the EU single market and customs union.
And food prices have leapt by six per cent, with grocery bills containing products such as fresh pork, tomatoes and jams rising most sharply, because of the end to frictionless trade.
Speaking to the Policy Exchange think-tank, Lord Frost admitted the government had forced through the Protocol while planning to “sort out the necessary detail with the EU later”.
He repeated his call for it to be torn up – by invoking Article 16, to suspend parts of the treaty if necessary – as the government plots new legislation in next month’s Queen’s Speech.
The peer also dismissed warnings that rewriting it unilaterally would damage the UK, because it would be breaking international claiming “the Protocol is different” because it was “imposed under duress”.
But he conceded that abandoning it “will of course require domestic legislation”, setting up a clash with the House of Lords and Tory rebels in the Commons, if the government presses ahead.
Lord Frost also claimed the Protocol is “explicitly temporary”, despite it being an international agreement that the EU has insisted the UK must abide by.
And he argued it will be thrown out by the Stormont Assembly in a “consent” vote due in 2024, although that would not, by itself, end the legal obligations entered into.
How do you get tickets to Fraud Frost’s fantasy land?
50% of the country don’t believe their eyes, ears, and wallet
The late David Frost (of That was the Week that Was fame and other satire), had he made something like this up, would have been laughed out of court.
Is that so? Then how come everything costs more and energy companies are fucking the country over whilst blamingg consumers for it?
Presumably, a lordship and the assorted generous rewards for services rendered to your political masters go a long way to “smooth” things out, to the point where you probably don’t notice the price hikes and trade shortfalls.
Christ… I would hate to see his example of an unmitigated failure!
If this is ‘remarkably smoothly’ then it really begs the question as to why he was in favour of something he considered would result in an absolute shitstorm.
I would hate to see what it would be like if he thought it was going really badly
To be fair he is probably correct. Given some of the apocalyptic scenarios that were banded about in the referendum, I’d definitely say it has gone better than it could of.
There is also a question of how much of the current issues are the cause of the pandemic and the Ukraine/Russia war as well as Brexit. But overall i think several parts of the remain campaign said we wouldn’t get a deal at all so I think he is right. Depends whose statements you look at but it definitely hasn’t gone as badly as the remain campaign said it would or as well as the leave campaign said it would.
Yes, and all we had to do was keep delaying any actual implementation and give up 10% of our currency value and pay a shit tonne of other costs.
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There are a ‘lack of things to talk about‘, ex-negotiator argues – one day after collapse in trading links revealed
David Frost has claimed that Brexit has gone “remarkably smoothly”, one day after fresh evidence of rising food costs and firms abandoning trade with the EU.
The negotiator of Boris Johnson’s trade deal – who quit the government last year – claimed there are “lack of things to talk about”, other than the controversy over the Irish Sea trade border it created.
“Occasionally, another issue like fishing or touring performers gets a look in,” he told an event about the future of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“But, generally, it’s actually quite remarkable how smoothly the total reordering of this country’s relations has gone.”
The comments come despite Lord Frost disowning his own agreement for breaking a promise to spare touring musicians and other performers new punishing costs and red tape.
Border bureaucracy also means the UK has “stopped selling” many products to smaller EU countries, according to new evidence of the impact of leaving the EU single market and customs union.
And food prices have leapt by six per cent, with grocery bills containing products such as fresh pork, tomatoes and jams rising most sharply, because of the end to frictionless trade.
Speaking to the Policy Exchange think-tank, Lord Frost admitted the government had forced through the Protocol while planning to “sort out the necessary detail with the EU later”.
He repeated his call for it to be torn up – by invoking Article 16, to suspend parts of the treaty if necessary – as the government plots new legislation in next month’s Queen’s Speech.
The peer also dismissed warnings that rewriting it unilaterally would damage the UK, because it would be breaking international claiming “the Protocol is different” because it was “imposed under duress”.
But he conceded that abandoning it “will of course require domestic legislation”, setting up a clash with the House of Lords and Tory rebels in the Commons, if the government presses ahead.
Lord Frost also claimed the Protocol is “explicitly temporary”, despite it being an international agreement that the EU has insisted the UK must abide by.
And he argued it will be thrown out by the Stormont Assembly in a “consent” vote due in 2024, although that would not, by itself, end the legal obligations entered into.
How do you get tickets to Fraud Frost’s fantasy land?
50% of the country don’t believe their eyes, ears, and wallet
The late David Frost (of That was the Week that Was fame and other satire), had he made something like this up, would have been laughed out of court.
Is that so? Then how come everything costs more and energy companies are fucking the country over whilst blamingg consumers for it?
Presumably, a lordship and the assorted generous rewards for services rendered to your political masters go a long way to “smooth” things out, to the point where you probably don’t notice the price hikes and trade shortfalls.
Christ… I would hate to see his example of an unmitigated failure!
If this is ‘remarkably smoothly’ then it really begs the question as to why he was in favour of something he considered would result in an absolute shitstorm.
I would hate to see what it would be like if he thought it was going really badly
To be fair he is probably correct. Given some of the apocalyptic scenarios that were banded about in the referendum, I’d definitely say it has gone better than it could of.
There is also a question of how much of the current issues are the cause of the pandemic and the Ukraine/Russia war as well as Brexit. But overall i think several parts of the remain campaign said we wouldn’t get a deal at all so I think he is right. Depends whose statements you look at but it definitely hasn’t gone as badly as the remain campaign said it would or as well as the leave campaign said it would.
Yes, and all we had to do was keep delaying any actual implementation and give up 10% of our currency value and pay a shit tonne of other costs.