Category: Customs Union

Brexit: Bank of England governor shreds Boris Johnson’s claim for avoiding economic damage after no-deal

The Bank of England governor has rubbished a key Boris Johnson claim for avoiding economic damage after a no-deal Brexit, in a severe blow to the Tory leadership favourite.

Mr Johnson dismissed fears about crashing out of the EU by arguing the UK could still enjoy tariff-free trade under what is known as “Gatt 24”, until a permanent agreement was struck. But Mark Carney pointed out the trade law could only be invoked if there was an agreement in place – and the central point of a no-deal Brexit was the absence of a deal.
“The Gatt rules are clear. Gatt 24 applies if you have a [withdrawal] agreement, not if you’ve decided not to have an agreement, or you have been unable to come to an agreement,” he told the BBC.

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UK signs post-Brexit free trade deal with South Korea

Zero tariff agreement

The UK has signed a crucial free trading deal with South Korea – Asia’s fourth largest economy – that will be seen as a huge boost to morale in the Brexit camp.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox signed the zero-tariff deal with his South Korean counterpart Yoo Myung-hee in Seoul. It marks the first post-Brexit trade deal the UK has secured in Asia and is broadly in line with the terms of the existing Korea-EU free trade agreement.

Theresa May: We will prohibit any future government from splitting up Northern Ireland from the Union of the UK

Speech Theresa May delivered in London; May 21, 2019

I became Prime Minister almost three years ago – immediately after the British people voted to leave the European Union. My aim was – and is – to deliver Brexit and help our country move beyond the division of the referendum and into a better future. A country that works for everyone. Where everyone has the chance to get on in life and to go as far as their own talent and hard work can take them. That is a goal that I believe can still unite our country.

I knew that delivering Brexit was not going to be simple or straightforward. The result in 2016 was decisive, but it was close. The challenge of taking Brexit from the simplicity of the choice on the ballot paper to the complexity of resetting the country’s relationship with 27 of its nearest neighbours was always going to be huge.

While it has proved even harder than I anticipated, I continue to believe that the best way to make a success of Brexit is to negotiate a good exit deal with the EU as the basis of a new deep and special partnership for the future. That was my pitch to be leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. That is what I set out in my Lancaster House speech and that was what my Party’s election manifesto said in 2017.

BREXIT, EU elections: Key to Labour victory on May 23rd is the contrasting “nasty nationalism of Brexit Party”; Tom Watson

Cross-party Brexit talks resumed Monday… again.Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson believes the key to Labour’s vote holding up on May 23rd is portraying the election as a choice between the “nasty nationalism of the Farage Brexit Party” and “the tolerant, compassionate outward-looking patriotism of the Labour Party”