Germany and France have done massively well out of membership, bear in mind of course it was designed to further their own interests, and that there are few of either nation who have known anything else but EEC/EU membership, and even fewer in political life .
What makes you think they will do inspections as you describe? Currently the only thing ‘out there’ is if we have a hard border it could create, that makes it conjecture. Do you think France will not be affected by a back up as you describe? Why would France be spending millions on increasing road flow up-to the ports by removing, roundabouts, traffic lights, junctions etc to stop the risk of vehicles being targeted by immigrants? Oh and the M20 car park you refer to is something to be considered for export not import according to the institute for government report so wouldn’t affect food shortages you refer to. Going back to my original reply to the original comment all the above you describe might happen and it might not, nothing is yet set in stone so that does make it conjecture, which is why it would be wrong to include in a referendum document. Just like us getting millions back to spend on NHS is wrong.
I think that if there's a risk of serious disruption to our food and medicine supplies we should be looking very closely at it - I agree that none of it is certain, but the consequences are profound for our country, I hope the risk to the jobs and prosperity was worth it for "taking back control", if there is a hard Brexit and we outperform the EU in growth in the next 5 years I'll personally apologise to you. If, on the other hand, it causes major disruption to our economy, I hope you and those cheering on the headbangers now in charge will also apologise and say you were wrong?
How am I cheering on the headbangers? I have offered no opinion of if I am for or against Brexit. All I have done is replied to posts, the first saying facts should have been made available, which i agree with, which is my whole point. You came on stating certainties which I responded to and have now back tracked to should be looked at, which I also agree.
I'm not expert enough to answer that with certainty , all I can do is present these articles from Irish sources ( they're saved to my PC, so will have to wait while I get back on). Here's one to be going on with though. https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/news-opinion/lord-henry-mountcharles-column-taoiseach-13487244
From The Irish Times... The Irish Government has a responsibility not to be complacent or to surrender a negotiating advantage. Unlike a sea border there is a real risk of violence at a hard border, which makes it trite to throw the “de-dramatisation” cliche back at Varadkar, tempting though that might be. But the Taoiseach could deconstruct the possibility of violence. He could be clear, for example, that Brexit may affect the Belfast Agreement but does not breach it, and that nobody envisages new passport controls, road closures or routine queues for motorists under any circumstances – all widespread public concerns from both a practical and security perspective.
So by what system do we monitor people and goods coming into the UK? How do you check if the person crossing the border is from Drogheda or Bucharest?
CR...I'm not suggesting answers, but what I would say is that no-one in the UK has suggested building a hard border, if the UK is prepared to accept or turn a blind eye to your suggestion, that is purely a UK problem to solve...certainly not Leo Varadkar's. What I am suggesting is that there are people in Ireland who are saying Varadkar's case is more than a degree disingenuous ( their take on it). The other thing that has emerged recently from Guy Verhofstadts fly on the wall documentary is that the EU seem to have encouraged it as purely a bargaining chip.
Well we're talking about politicians here and I have no illusions that EU politicians aren't using things to their own advantage. Anyway, it's too nice to argue, the sun is out and blazing in Dingle.
Varadkar is dancing to the tune of the EU negotiators atm - keen to keep up the "backstop cannot be negotiated" line - the bottom line though is that Ireland will have to borrow huge sums of money from the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit - the Irish Agriculture minister Michael Creed said this himself in January - some 40% of Irish exports to the rest of the EU pass via the U.K. over the English Channel to the Continent - add into that mix that Ireland exports around 12pct of its total exports to the UK and the likely collapse in sterling which would follow a no-deal brexit that would absolutely hammer Irish exports - I would expect Ireland to go into an immediate recession and no amount of money from the EU will change that - would the Irish people be saying top of the morning to ya to Mr Varadkar in this scenario ?- I think not - the flip side of this is of course how the UK is affected with a no-deal Brexit - I think it is fair to say that we will also go into recession until things settle down - the stakes are high for both countries and for the EU itself - the EU has so many issues to deal with right now - trying to stimulate growth with interest rates at record lows will not be easy, then you have Italy teetering on the brink of a banking crisis, France in recession atm - brexit is another problem the EU doesn't need which is why I think there may be some leeway from the EU/Varadkar -
I was expecting something like that from is first parliamentary address, but I thought it was good tbh, I enjoyed him pulling Corbyn to bits though
What? So not answering any of the 10 questions Corbyn put to him is ‘pulling him to bits’?? I’m no Corbynite, but that interpretation is genuinely bizarre. Johnson did what he always does - and to be fair, it’s got him this far - completely ignore the question, wave his arms about and raise his voice. If that does it for you, fair play.....
But he didn’t. *EDIT* Oh sorry, I forgot the S*n said he did on their front page today, so he obviously must have done.