Getting brexit done!

[Carl the Llama]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Plenty of things the Government could do.... 

 

https://capx.co/10-eu-regulations-the-government-should-now-scrap/

 

A capitalist blog/news site funded by the CPC.  Red flags.

 

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1. The Genetically Modified Organisms Directive

In 2018 the European Court of Justice ruled that altering living things using the relatively new technique of genome editing counts as genetic engineering. That judgment inhibits our contribution to the fight against malaria – a disease which, according to Unicef, is “the largest killer of children” on the planet. This is because of a gene-editing application called CRISPR – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – which could potentially eradicate malaria by making mosquitoes immune to the disease. British scientists have complained of the “onerous” EU restrictions which act as a block on our contribution to innovation of this kind.

 

I don't understand.  Malaria is largely an African issue and the linked Nature article on it suggests many difficulties with CRISPR being used to fight the disease but none were related to the EU (I was skimming so may have missed it).  They don't actually demonstrate where we were impeded or how we no longer are.

 

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2. The Clinical Trials Directive

These regulations have undermined cancer clinical trials and other important medical work. As an editorial in the British Medical Journal said last year: “Although established with good intent, the current rules and regulations are stifling academic clinical research and hindering patients’ access to innovative treatment options.”

 

That sounds bad if true, but again there's a whole universe of information absent here which would allow us to make an informed opinion.  They just say it's so without giving any background or explanation.  What's the cost-benefit here?

 

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3. The Health and Safety at Work Framework Directive

This requires all businesses to keep written records of risk assessments carried out in their workplace, regardless of risk. The EU refused to exempt small businesses, even those with fewer than ten employees. It is an example of a regulation that is very onerous for small firms but of negligible practical benefit.

 

I'm shocked that a pro laissez-faire capitalist blogger is against ensuring safe workplaces for employees.  Shocked.  But yes we've been arguing for years that leaving the EU would potentially have this negative impact.

 

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4. Protection of Animals during Transport and Related Operations Regulation

This is the requirement to allow exports of live animals, which the Government has indicated it will dispense with.

 

I mean they're just animals, right?

 

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5. Abolish VAT for the renovation of buildings and regulatory barriers to new homes 

Perversely VAT is charged for restoring an existing building to bring it back into use but not for new building. There are a lot of empty derelict buildings that could be adapted for beautiful housing even though they were originally built for other reasons. 

 

6. VAT on ‘luxuries’

There are lots of areas where VAT could now be scrapped. What about condoms? We could have an interesting debate about whether or not they are a ‘luxury’. But from a public health perspective a “tax on safe sex” does not make much sense. It would help the environment to scrap VAT on solar panels and home insulation. VAT should be abolished on all school uniforms. Uniforms for pupils aged over 14 have VAT – also for younger children above the average size. But I would highlight a particular priority. During the referendum campaign in 2016, Vote Leave said: “EU law prevents the UK from cutting value added tax on household energy bills. This hits the least wealthy households the hardest, which spend on average three times as much of their income on energy as the wealthiest households.” Given that the Prime Minister was prominent in that campaign it would be right to deliver on that.

These are kind of the same point.  Yes our government will have full say in how and where we apply VAT which is one of those benefits which can swing either way depending on how the government of the day decide to wield it.  That said I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make given that we had full discretion over our own tax laws and have used it in ways where some goods were significantly more expensive in the UK than other EU nations, tobacco for one obvious example, so I don't know how realistic it is to expect a wholesale change in VAT law resulting in cheaper goods.  Could be way off on this one though I'll admit.

 

To address 5 more directly, on the face of it I think I could get behind a change in regulations to make more housing available, but we'll need to do it in a way that it doesn't just serve as a boon to the nation's landlords which I don't think we can trust the Conservatives to do.

 

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7. Vaping

Another EU restriction with perverse consequences. The EU’s Tobacco Products Directive restricts e-cigarettes. But many feel that vaping should be promoted as it is an effective way to encourage smokers to quit.

 

This is very misleading.  They regulate them for health and safety purposes but you can buy e-cigarettes pretty easily in any EU nation.  As far as I'm aware there's never been anything to stop the UK govt deciding they want to encourage e-cigs and vaping over smoking tobacco.

 

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8. Chemicals Directive

In 2006 the EU agreed a new regulation called Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. This has required – and continues to require – a huge amount of unnecessary animal testing at a cost of billions to the chemicals industry.

 

This is one wild claim, I think we need supporting documents on this one.

 

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9. Working Time Directive

Other important changes could allow a more flexible labour market. The Working Time Directive is the EU regulation that bans working more than 48 hours a week, since incorporated into British law in the UK Working Time Regulations. It is estimated these rules cost the British economy over £5 billion a year. It has been particularly damaging to the NHS as it has been applied to doctors who are “on call” through the night even if they were asleep. Patient care is harmed by the need to hand over from one doctor to another. The restriction should be lifted. The Temporary Workers Directive, which requires equal treatment for temporary workers, has the impact of making temporary work harder to obtain.

 

This is another one we've been warning people about.  The working time directive is a very good policy and any willing person can choose to opt out of it if they feel it's restricting their earning potential.  Every good employer already knows this and makes sure their employees do too.

 

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10. Food labelling

As with the VAT changes, we could have a long list from this category alone. European Food Information to Consumers Regulation (Regulation 2011/1169/EU) is the one that obliges shops to attach warnings on their fish products stating that their products may contain fish. Then there is the Weights and Measures Directive (Council Directive 1980/181/EEC). where the UK is obliged to use metric units in most areas. While the use of imperial measures as a “supplementary indicator” is permitted, metric units “shall predominate” and must be given in the same or a larger font than imperial measurements.

I realise I may have missed out your own bete noire. What about the public procurement rules which have blocked competition from smaller firms? What about high-powered vacuum cleaners? What about that pointless daily ritual of clicking the acceptance of cookies on websites?

But according to the House of Commons library the 900 EU directives have left us with a legacy of 19,000 regulations. Open Europe estimated that the top 100 EU regulations alone cost us £33.3 billion annually. We should be able to achieve much better outcomes at a drastically reduced cost. Scrapping, or amending, some of them will be contentious. Others are so brazenly pointless it will be a struggle for anyone to raise much objection. But it is a mammoth task and the Government should get cracking.

 

First of all there's nothing wrong with allergy warnings.  A few funny mandatory warnings is a small price to pay for reducing accidental poisoning from products where the allergens are less obvious.

 

Secondly there's nothing wrong with using metric as a primary measurement.  Most people understand it better and given that the younger generations are all as familiar with metric as imperial, if not more so, then it's a concern which will become increasingly irrelevant as time passes.  I suspect we'll keep it anyway.

No idea what the procurement argument is or what it has to do with vacuum cleaners and cookies, but I support regulation which prevents websites from being able to automatically store a bunch of information about me even if it can be annoying to spend a few seconds clicking out the cookies box on a new website.

 

Lastly I don't know about the veracity of the £33.3bn figure but I wonder if it takes into account the benefits of having well-regulated industries.  I suspect from the context of being used to support a pro-capitalist agenda it does not.

 

 

[Spudulike]

Didn't take long... No 1

 

England launches plan to ease crop gene editing regulation post-Brexit | Reuters

 

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-farming-genes-idUKKBN29C1F8

 

[Carl the Llama]

36 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Didn't take long... No 1

 

England launches plan to ease crop gene editing regulation post-Brexit | Reuters

 

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-farming-genes-idUKKBN29C1F8

 

That article doesn't make it sound like it would necessarily be a big win, it even says the EU might be changing their ruling on it anyway in which case it would be a redundant move.

[Innovindil]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Didn't take long... No 1

 

England launches plan to ease crop gene editing regulation post-Brexit | Reuters

 

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-farming-genes-idUKKBN29C1F8

 

Actually one of the things I brought up as a potential benefit many moons ago. Glad to see it's on the agenda so quickly. Unsurprisingly didn't get a lot of traction in the brexit debate. 

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, Carl the Llama said:

That article doesn't make it sound like it would necessarily be a big win, it even says the EU might be changing their ruling on it anyway in which case it would be a redundant move.

It should be a big win because whoever announces something to the public 1st then it was obviously their idea & they take the credit, well on this forum anyway

[bovril]

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/system-getting-supplies-northern-ireland-may-be-five-days-collapse-due-irish-sea-border-hauliers-warn-michael-gove-3090602

 

This - and the other issues we've had since leaving the customs union - should really be huge news even during Coronavirus. 

 

We can laugh at politics in the US but the fact that we've erected a border within our own country and nobody seems to be that bothered about it is pretty mad. 

[Kopic]

3 hours ago, bovril said:

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/system-getting-supplies-northern-ireland-may-be-five-days-collapse-due-irish-sea-border-hauliers-warn-michael-gove-3090602

 

This - and the other issues we've had since leaving the customs union - should really be huge news even during Coronavirus. 

 

We can laugh at politics in the US but the fact that we've erected a border within our own country and nobody seems to be that bothered about it is pretty mad. 

My girlfriend got a job as a customs supervisor with a parcel firm a few weeks ago. Its an absolute ****ing mess. No-one knows what they should be doing and stuff isn't getting sent. Stuff like cancer drugs etc getting delayed because of paperwork. Ridiculous.

[bovril]

24 minutes ago, Kopic said:

My girlfriend got a job as a customs supervisor with a parcel firm a few weeks ago. Its an absolute ****ing mess. No-one knows what they should be doing and stuff isn't getting sent. Stuff like cancer drugs etc getting delayed because of paperwork. Ridiculous.

That would be the EU red tape leavers we're so worried about. 

[StanSP]

 

 

 

[Bellend Sebastian]

10 hours ago, StanSP said:

 

 

 

So glad standards are being maintained as promised. Bloody EU stopping us killing bees..

 

Hopefully we can get back to pumping raw sewage into the sea like we did before the bloody EU stopped us, and can operate a proper BRITISH brown flag beach classification system now that presumably we've thrown the EU blue flag beach classification system back in the sea where it belongs

 

[Spudulike]

12 hours ago, StanSP said:

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

So glad standards are being maintained as promised. Bloody EU stopping us killing bees..

 

Hopefully we can get back to pumping raw sewage into the sea like we did before the bloody EU stopped us, and can operate a proper BRITISH brown flag beach classification system now that presumably we've thrown the EU blue flag beach classification system back in the sea where it belongs

 

Not sure this is Brexit related. France are doing the same and other EU states are considering it. 

 

 

[Voll Blau]

Can any Brexit lads let us know what possible benefit this decision brings to the UK? Really scratching my head.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-visa-free-work-musicians-eu-brexit-b1784600.html

 

[FerrisBueller]

7 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Can any Brexit lads let us know what possible benefit this decision brings to the UK? Really scratching my head.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-visa-free-work-musicians-eu-brexit-b1784600.html

 

Spiteful bastards, gigging out of the UK is the only time I made any money.

[Bellend Sebastian]

26 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

 

Not sure this is Brexit related. France are doing the same and other EU states are considering it. 

 

 

In fairness, this example may not be and I'll be honest I didn't check the detail to any great extent - I saw that other countries were considering doing the same but didn't know if they were EU ones.

 

We expect the worst as a race to the bottom in terms of standards and protections is what a lot of Remoaners like myself are worried about

[Bellend Sebastian]

More total conjecture on my part - the last couple of times I've gone food shopping, whilst the range of stuff available hasn't been noticeably different to usual, the shelf life of fresh foods is A LOT shorter, as if the supply side isn't quite working like it normally does.

 

I did a big shop last night and probably spent 30% less than usual as if I'd bought the same fresh stuff I normally get we'd have had to eat it all by Monday, whereas usually the bulk of it could last to the end of the week with a bit of planning.

 

The folk that hover around the bargain bit waiting for markdowns are going to have a field day as A LOT of what was in the chilled section of Tesco's last night is going to have to be chucked in the next day or so

 

[Spudulike]

6 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In fairness, this example may not be and I'll be honest I didn't check the detail to any great extent - I saw that other countries were considering doing the same but didn't know if they were EU ones.

 

We expect the worst as a race to the bottom in terms of standards and protections is what a lot of Remoaners like myself are worried about

It's understandable that people are concerned about standards and not just Remainers (is that a thing anymore?). I think we are seeing a continuation of spin from all sides and will for some time yet. 

[Kopfkino]

55 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

 

Not sure this is Brexit related. France are doing the same and other EU states are considering it. 

 

 

Yeah temporary derogations, which this essentially is, are permitted under EU law and have been granted by 10 EU governments.

It’s another case where Brexit bashing is more important than a considered opinion. Not a mention that it’s not really anything to do with Brexit (in that almost all the EU’s biggest sugar beet producers have done the same) in the Indy or Guardian reporting or from those crowing on Twitter.
 

It’s sad that people just can’t get over the tiresome obsession of every little thing being something for the Brexit war, that also goes for those crowing about the lack of transparent border problems that are probably going to get egg on their face in the coming months.

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Kopfkino said:

Yeah temporary derogations, which this essentially is, are permitted under EU law and have been granted by 10 EU governments.

It’s another case where Brexit bashing is more important than a considered opinion. Not a mention that it’s not really anything to do with Brexit (in that almost all the EU’s biggest sugar beet producers have done the same) in the Indy or Guardian reporting or from those crowing on Twitter.
 

It’s sad that people just can’t get over the tiresome obsession of every little thing being something for the Brexit war, that also goes for those crowing about the lack of transparent border problems that are probably going to get egg on their face in the coming months.

I just love bees

[Spudulike]

53 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I just love bees

Me too. Not wasps though, they're all bastids. I got swarmed by German wasps summer before last when cutting a hedge, counted 17 stings (probably more but couldn't tell due to swelling) and ended up in hospital on drips and stuff. Cost £80 to get in an exterminator. 

[SemperEadem]

3 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

Can any Brexit lads let us know what possible benefit this decision brings to the UK? Really scratching my head.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-visa-free-work-musicians-eu-brexit-b1784600.html

 

Grim this

[SemperEadem]

SKY go Germany pulled the plug on me earlier as I settled down to watch Bochum.

Mint.

[CosbehFox]

5 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

Can any Brexit lads let us know what possible benefit this decision brings to the UK? Really scratching my head.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-visa-free-work-musicians-eu-brexit-b1784600.html

 

France have stepped forward to exempt Brits fitting the same criteria of the visa 

Edited 10 January 2021 by Cardiff_Fox

[CosbehFox]

No Oranges or Peppers when I visited the supermarket yesterday and the ‘doom mongers’ predicting it’s going to get worse over the next couple of weeks 

[dsr-burnley]

37 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

No Oranges or Peppers when I visited the supermarket yesterday and the ‘doom mongers’ predicting it’s going to get worse over the next couple of weeks 

Supermarkets in my area have less fresh fruit and veg on Sundays too.  Try again today.

[CosbehFox]

42 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Supermarkets in my area have less fresh fruit and veg on Sundays too.  Try again today.

We ain’t talking like a few left - I mean completely empty shelves at a minute past opening. 
 

Norn Iron in particular has issues where supermarkets have confirmed reduced selection. 
 

It will settle down as the new procedures get more organised and efficient but the hauliers asked for a 60 day grace period to get this organisation in place 

Edited 11 January 2021 by Cardiff_Fox