"...the European Commission has already tried to force the UK to charge VAT on commodity derivatives traded on the International Commodity Exchange (ICE), the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM)."
"There are already 3 billion middle class people in the world and by 2030 AMRO estimates that there will be over 5 billion. As people become wealthier, they eat more, have money to save and invest, and have more leisure time. So UK industries should be looking for export opportunities outside the EU, not demanding protection, subsidies or tying themselves to EU regulations and the mythical level playing field."
"Please shoulder your pens!"
"The EU is an anti-democratic beast whose only modus operandi is to impose its ideas and will on EU member states."
"So, when the EU says that not everything can be agreed by 31 December 2020, that is fine. The only constructive way out ... is to agree what can be agreed, and find an equitable transition for those issues that remain."
"We don’t allow the EU to sell oil and gas licences in our territorial waters so why would we treat fishing access any differently?"
The trade talks are the first item on our agenda as a fully independent country, and here are the reasons why they are likely to be successful.
There is a little-heard counterview to the main narrative: the IRA, far from brave, sued for peace because the military tide had turned against them. The two previous years in the late 1980s were the first and second since the Troubles began in which more Republican than Loyalist paramilitaries were killed. If this is correct, the Provos sued for peace because they were scared, not because they were brave.
I think this is regrettable. Brexit is not really about economics; it is more about national identity and enough British citizens deciding, when given the choice, to take back part of the sovereignty they had previously ceded to the EU.
The UK in Johnson’s deal has agreed to an exit bill of c. £39 billion – and quite possibly significantly more. There is no link between the payment of this and agreeing a free trade deal