Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

All part of the Tory plan to level everyone up into an information economy that's not blue-collar skill based anymore, amiright? Pretty sure that's what the business minister was on about at the conference. So, not so great a time to be an HGV driver when HMG is against such things.

Or an imported pig-butcher or whatever. At least the emergency visas are 6 months, and remember, it's all o.k. if the Tory lead in the polls over Labor is maintained. I mean, let's follow this to conclusion - suspend elections indefinitely.

I always chuckle at people who claim there are no shortages in their supermarket. The average UK supermarket carries tens of thousands of lines. Most people however buy the same few hundred every time they shop. They can't realistically know if there are shortages because the supermarkets quickly close gaps and spread neighbouring products out. They were doing this long before Brexit too as gaps look bad. If you can see gaps, then the shortages are really quite bad.

The article you quote cites Brexit causing nothing but hassle and grief for Irish HGV drivers trying to traverse the UK and may well have caused Irish drivers to drop out of the industry - as ever, the thing is utterly toxic and poisonous for anyone trying to deal with it.

But the British HGV driver won't benefit because they are gonna give visas and cabotage to EU drivers so essentially it will be like before Brexit

Its too early to tell the exact outcome, but the trajectory is blatantly obvious

Every single thing the Brexiteers said would happen after Brexit has failed spectacularly to happen

5 years after the Brexit vote...

The UK has not got any meaningful trade deals

The UK has not taken control of their borders

The UK have not seen a rush of inward investment

The EU or Eurozone has not collapsed, or there isn't any movement for any other EU country to follow the UK out of Europe

Investment into the UK has not increased

There are not 'free ports' everywhere

There has been a new border down the Irish Sea

The UK fishing industry has not taken back it's fish

The UK farming sector are on their knees instead of finding new markets to expand into

There has not been a 'burning of red tape' in fact red tape manufacturing is one of the few booming industries in the UK since brexit

The EU did not cave to UK demands in the Brexit negotiations

The UK did not get to have the benefits of being both inside and outside the EU

Immigration into the UK from europe has fallen, but rather than benefitting the UK, it has resulted in huge labour shortages, a brain drain, mass divestment of financial services and high tech industry out of the UK

The GBP has fallen in value and has not recovered

Inflation is the highest in Europe

etc etc etc

And what benefits has brexit brought.....

uhhh

'The fastest vaccine rollout in Europe... for the first few months, except now they're way behind many EU countries and have had some of the worst Covid statistics of any developed country

The day after the vote was the day that the GBP collapsed after the World currency markets were desperate to offload GBP knowing that brexit would be the mess it has turned out to be

And this was on top of the gbp declines before the referendum due to the uncertainty

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36611512.amp&ved=2ahUKEwiJgqKQuc3zAhUqQkEAHWeUA2UQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1Opqmu0chplgRJQQ5MkGPB&ampcf=1

For someone living in Ireland and saying they are Irish. You do appear to harp an extensive amount of Tory talking points. You have a very anti Irish Government attitude and when people have complained about Tory policy you have several times managed to make it about the wider UK population and some anti Brit agenda.

It's an unusual and might I say minority view point from an Irish perspective. Do you mind me asking where you source your news from ? I'm trying to understand where the Talking points and the objectively coloured view of Tory decision making comes from. It makes an intriguing case which I'm interested in .

Might I note this is a question not meant to be taken as a personal slight. It's all observational.

There's an awful lot of stuff being pulled into this thread as proof of various sides of the argument. Opinion polls of the political parties in the UK is not a referendum on the benefits of Brexit. The current opposition parties are in a very poor state, they don't actually offer anything; labour offer loads of infighting, much of it between people that vast swathes of the electorate would find deplorable, the lib dems after the last election debacle, and their stint as Tory Bum boys in Government make them unelectable.

In a country where coalitions are close to unthinkable, no opposition party offers the potential to win an election. With Scotland gone for Labour, they might never be in a position to win an overall majority again.

Similarly with currency's the rate of Sterling against any other currency at any time is related to how the currency markets see both currencies performing relative to each other in the short term. Again the market is not making a judgement on one issue, it's where they are allocating their funds in the short term. If the GBP is strong it reflects as much on the lack of belief in other currencies. Right now the prospects of central banks easing financial stimulus, or rising interest rates are moving financial markets way more than any single government policy.

On Nando's, did they announce closing some shops temporarily because of a shortage of chicken two months or so ago? Thought they said staff were to be redeployed to a chicken processing unit????

To add a lighter note; anyone old enough to remember a movie; letter to Breschnev (spelling??) one of the lead characters had very harsh opinions on working in a chicken processing unit. Was something like sticking her hand up 800 chicken a**s a day, she deserved to go out and get p*****d at the weekend.

I notice time and again you go back to the HGV driver shortage in other countries and also the stock shortages but they are worse in Britain and I don't even know why you are trying to argue it when you admit Brexit is aggravating it which means Brexit is part of the problem.

You always come back to the HGV but I also notice.

You always side step the pig culling and the veg pickers

I live in South Yorkshire and have done for over a decade. There have been and still are ongoing shortages of both items and "essential items" going on and have been going on for quite some time. My other half routinely has her medical prescription order delayed and delayed because the medicines just are not in stock but you won't hear much about that in the newspapers until it is something dramatic like cancer drugs for hospitals being affected or a rationing of consumables used for taking blood samples due to covid testing demand. Does that mean that there are no shortages because you personally are not hearing about shortages Padraig?

I have noticed more and more empty shelving space developing over time at my local supermarket where previously that was not the case. Foodstuffs that are routinely out of stock these days; lactose-free milk (due to lack of delivery drivers according to Tesco staff), frozen chicken, more and more potato-based frozen stuff, and oft rather bare looking pasta/pasta sauce shelves. To add to all of that, there have been wholesale price increases across the board with prices rounding up, or special deals no longer being offered to save money, etc. along with some foodstuffs seeing sharp jumps in price like fish; for example a 180g Tesco pack of sliced Scottish Salmon was £2 and is now £3. Cartoons of Tesco Orange Juice have gone from £2.50 to £3, and a lot of other pricing follows similar suit. Things that were £0.90 are now £1, etc. etc.

Fuel? Back to normal for now although it was utterly f*cked for over two weeks where I am. I saw several large forecourts closed during the middle of a Saturday with no operating pumps and I know several work colleagues & neighbours who have had to spend time driving for quite some time to find forecourts with fuel supplies. On top of that the prices jumped upwards of 4p (at the cheapest end of the scale) overnight as garages took advantage. The issue with the fuel shortage was never the actual stocks of fuel in the country, it was distribution due to a lack of drivers. All because some stupid Tory plank stood up in front of a tv camera talking about how there is no need to panic.

Meanwhile the electric and gas supply prices have gone bonkers.

All hail Brexit; such a roaring success ...

Edit: forgot to mention the ongoing difficulty all year getting PC components; some of which I am still waiting for 8 months later. A miserable £9 part and all ... hardly "essential items" but when yuo cannot complete a PC build because of said parts they start to look pretty essential. Also the jump in bicycle & component part prices due to good old brexit. Again none of this will make the papers because it's niche stuff. But the shortages & price hikes are all there in black & white.

Tbh, if there is even one I'll be amazed.

If there was one the the Brexiteers would be put singing about, like they disingenuously did about the vaccines.

Of course if one accepts that Brexit was the reason behind the early vaccines success, then it follows that Brexit must be the cause of the current slow performance.

All the Brexiteers have left is trying to argue that Brexit isn't the cause of all the bad things happening.