Lord Frost’s ‘red line’ is more bluster to distract from Brexit chaos

UK & EU flags and the UK's Brexit minister Lord Frost


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The UK’s Brexit minister lord David Frost is expected to warn the EU that the European Court of Justice’s role in the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) is a “red line”. He’s also demanding “significant” changes to the NIP that he himself negotiated.

This appears to have caused a certain amount of frustration south of the border in Ireland, because the Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney reacted by tweeting:

What could happen next?

Frost is to deliver his warning to the EU at a meeting on Tuesday 12 October in Portugal. But there are a lot of ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, ‘buts’, and ‘maybes’ between now and thereafter. In the event the EU doesn’t agree to Frost’s demand for “significant” changes, the UK might trigger Article 16. That would mean the UK would unilaterally suspend parts of the NIP.

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Should that happen, a series of negotiations and consultations would follow to find an agreement between the EU and the UK. All of which could result in a trade war should the EU not agree with the UK’s unilateral action. This could see the EU imposes tariffs (a kind of tax) on UK imports into the EU. Tariffs could make UK goods more expensive, which could in turn make those goods less desirable for EU consumers. And this could lead to job losses in the UK. So again, a lot of ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, ‘buts’, and ‘maybes’ at this stage.

But, given the effects of the global pandemic, climate emergency, and the current food and fuel shortages in the UK, it beggars belief why anybody would want to trigger even more chaos. The Tories got this clear explanation from an eastern European truck driver that Brexit is responsible for these food and fuel shortages:

While this person reminded Frost it was he who negotiated the NIP:

And then there was frustration from British people also, as tweeted by this former journalist:

While this contributor saw an agenda at play:

Brexiteers ballsed this up. We can no longer tolerate their bullshit.

Amidst all of this confusion, we must never forget the gusto with which Leaver campaigners pursued Brexit. We must also never forget the lies they told during the 2016 referendum, nor the nonsense Johnson spewed during the 2019 election about his deal with the EU being “oven-ready“.

But the tragedy here, as with so many decisions made by privileged members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, is that very few of them have to live with the negative consequences of the chaos they’ve unleashed. The weight of those consequences will fall, as it currently does, on less well-off people.

That is unless people take part in the Brexit fallout debate, make their voices heard, and tell the Westminster class they won’t stand for anymore feckless incompetence. This is a privileged Brexiteer mess. Let them finally take responsibility for it.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons – Tumisu & YouTube – BBC News

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  • Show Comments

    2. Who remembers the Tories and Leave Corporate Media whining like spoiled little princesses that the EU was being “mean” in not signing off on the brexshiteers desire to break every agreement that was being made?

      Now we can see what the intention was all along. The UK Govt had NO INTENTION of keeping to the agreement that it was signing, none whatsoever.

      ‘Negotiating in bad faith’ doesn’t even remotely begin to cover this catastrophic diplomacy.

      But all that is neatly memory holed, and the brainless beLeavers will lap up this new round of disinfo and media psyop without even a brainburp to the cognitive dissonance.

      People should realise the very same ‘negotiators’ and negotiating strategies are used against nursing unions for the NHS. is it any wonder that wages are ONLY falling behind inflation?

      These people are untrustworthy SCUM and you can’t take their word for anything (Unless you are a lobbyist handing them money in brown envelopes).

      The UK now behaves like a failed state. It IS a failed state, and one disintegrating very soon. The destruction of Corbyn laid bare to the critical 40% of the Public who did still believe in parliamentary democracy, that it was merely a sham.

      How the Tories manage to say “Rules based order” without choking upon their own hypocrisy is a scientific mystery worth a Nobel. Oh no, actually it isn’t – it’s because they are congenital liars backed up by congenital liars in the corporate media.

      moderated

      1. We cannot deny that the EU is equally Neoliberal to both TORIES, Conservative Party and Neo-New-Labour Party. They are complicit in equal amounts of war crimes and there are many reasons why “The Left” would want out rather than in. Not all leavers were taken by Farrage, Johnson, Galloway’s Bandwagon, many fought for a UK Labour Party Government, just as there were many remainers who stayed off the Blair, Campbell, Mandelson’s Remoaner Bandwagon to fight for a UK Labour Party Government.
        We knew that whatever happened after the Confirmatory Vote with a UK Labour Party Government in situ it would wind up a damned side better, than in the hands of the Clown of Death, now we have The Clown of Death from the Conservative TORIES fucking up Brexit and with NO CHOICE we’ll have The Jester of Death from The Neo-New-Labour TORIES to carry on where his Colleague left off!
        We gave away a Democratic Socialist UK Labour Party Government who would’ve ENDED 42 YEARS OF Thatcher’s Neoliberal TORY HELL and given us a decent Brexit Plan that we could decide on, And for WHAT!? The Neverending Torture Merry-Go-Round from Hell of NO CHOICE and ANOTHER 42+++ YEARS OF Thatcher’s Neoliberal Conservative Party and Neo-New-Labour Party TORIES, equally Right Wing, Equally Dangerous, Equally Fascist, etc!
        It’s not about the EU in/out, it’s about whether we Campaigned and Voted for a UK Labour Party Government OR NOT.

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