Brexit: Boris Issues 21 Day Ultimatum to Barnier

by Louise Mclean

Yesterday talks with the EU held in London finished with yet more disagreement on the main sticking points, chiefly our British territorial waters.  Michel Barnier had recently said there will be no trade deal unless we continue to allow EU fisherman to take our fish. 

At present for example, according to the quotas system, Britain can only take 6% of its cod, while France takes 84%!  There are tuna fish in Scottish waters worth £12,000 each, but Britain is not allowed to catch any at all!  Similar restrictions are in place for Cornish fisherman and the plentiful mackerel in their waters.

I would say our fish should not be up for negotiation at all.  These are our sovereign waters and we have every right to decide what we do with them.

Barnier has also said there will be no access to EU financial markets without Britain agreeing to their fishing demands, their level playing field (EU regulation) and their European Court of Justice oversight of our laws.

Apparently Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to David Frost and Michel Barnier while they were eating a fish dinner on Thursday night to tell Barnier that he had 21 days to agree a trade deal.  This is excellent and would bring us up to a deadline of the end of July.  Boris has also told Angela Merkel that if a trade deal is not agreed, we will leave with no deal at the end of December. 

However, many people are still uncomfortable about the fact that Boris appears to have gone back on his word regarding immigration, when we heard recently that thousands of non-EU immigrants are being housed in empty hotels all over Britain.  If Boris can go back on his election promise to cut immigration, can he maybe go back on his word to 'Get Brexit Done'?  

Of course that slogan is an ambiguous statement and could mean anything or any terms for completing the Brexit negotiations.

Watching Boris' adoration of science in the current Covid19 crisis, his belief in vaccines and nanotechnology to deliver medicines in the body and his demand for masks to be worn, I wonder how easily taken in he is about other things. Not to mention his decision to go ahead with the £100 billion HS2 and desire for Huawei to take over surveillance through its insidious network.

All of these things make many people a little nervous of Boris Johnson's leadership and his ability to backtrack when it suits him, as in his recent decision to possibly withdraw Huawei after all.  He is not a natural leader, which requires very clear decision-making, no backtracking, and he is certainly no Trump!

There are more talks scheduled between Britain and the EU in the next few weeks and these are increasingly becoming excruciating to the British Public, many of whom would like to see them end completely, with an ultimatum that we will leave on World Trade Organisation terms at the end of December.  

Many people feel these talks are becoming a waste of time, since Mr. Barnier refuses to back down on any of his unreasonable demands.  It would concentrate the minds of the Commission and EU 27 member states if we were to walk out of these talks now and let them think hard about what they will lose.