Profile picture
Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke @kevinhorourke
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
Quote of the day. Written by (or at least under the direction of) a Brit.
The Brit in question being Lord Cockfield, and the document in question being his White Paper on the Single Market, published in 1985. More than thirty years ago! The White Paper is available here and is still worth reading: aei.pitt.edu/1113/1/interna… …
Notice the logic. You need to remove the technical (relating to product standards etc) and fiscal issues in order to be able to do away with the physical border controls. The one is necessary in order for the other to happen. This is as true today as it was then. Also in Ireland.
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kevinhorourke see all

Profile picture
@MichelBarnier , @WeyandSabine , and everyone else involved, including on the UK side, deserves huge credit for getting the process to this stage: many congratulations. Given how many red lines had to be navigated it is a massive achievement.
Attention in the UK will focus on the imperfections of the deal but those are merely the reflection of the political red lines - leave the EU, leave the SM, no customs border between NI and GB - that negotiators had to work with.
What Barnier and colleagues have achieved is to construct a pathway towards an orderly Brexit, something that has not always seemed likely. And if a future HMG changes their red lines, the future relationship could be very close indeed.
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
@davidallengreen is of course right: if HMG reneges on the backstop it previously agreed this may well lead to a no deal Brexit, considerable economic damage to Member States including Ireland, and the very hard border the backstop was designed to avoid.
ft.com/content/0df643…
Does it follow that the EU was wrong to push the backstop? I don't think so. Avoiding a hard border was identified as one of the 3 key divorce issues and understandably so given the stakes. And HMG displayed bad faith on the issue throughout.
They clearly intended to use the Irish border issue to force the EU to accept no border controls anywhere, despite HMG being free to do trade deals with others, diverging in terms of regulations and all the rest of it. They were incredibly cynical.
Read 7 tweets
Profile picture
Just a quick reminder. On the backstop, HMG has not only signed up to the December Joint Report, it also agreed in March that...
"a legally operative version of the “backstop” solution for the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in line with paragraph 49 of the Joint Report, should be agreed as part of the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, to apply unless and until another solution is found"
In line with Paragraph 49, NOT in line with Paragraphs 49 and 50.

And NOT temporary: it is to apply unless and until another solution is found.

This concession in March is too often ignored. The source is here:

ec.europa.eu/commission/sit…
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
1) "An enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, directly engages in hostilities for an enemy state or non-state actor in an armed conflict." (Wikipedia)

breitbart.com/politics/2019/…
2) What is terrorist financing?

"Tlaib has received over $30,000 from...CAIR, MPAC, and the Muslim-American Society (MAS). (CAIR was founded by...a front group for Hamas; MAS has been identified...as the main U.S. front group for the Muslim Brotherhood.)

dailycaller.com/2018/09/18/ras…
3) What is "seditious conspiracy?"

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them..."
Read 78 tweets
Profile picture
1/ As @GerardBattenMEP has asked the question I shall do my best to answer it for him. Lets start with the 'Save billions on contributions'. In isolation Gerard is correct, if we no longer pay those contributions we save them, but for what?
2/ That contribution funds many things, from the European Medicines Agency, Euratom, Erasmus, Europoll, Eurojust, A29WP etc etc. Lots of bodies that the UK will need to replicate, and that replication costs money. What that contribution also gives us is a 15 fold return...
3/...when you look at the savings made just for trading within the single market. The cost of exporting to the EU as a third country will be over £4 billion a year to business plus the costs of infrastructure, people and systems for HMRC. Thats half the 'saving' wiped out...
Read 16 tweets
Profile picture
001/ [article content in this tweet series 001-180 reproduced with permission from Martin Howe QC of Lawyers for Britain @lawyers4britain]
#quote "Leaving the EU on WTO terms: pulling down the barriers to world trade
Introduction: why prices will FALL after Brexit, not rise" /002
002/ #quote "Over the past couple of weeks, the media have been full of lurid scare stories about what will happen if the UK leaves the EU on WTO terms, because negotiations with the EU do not result in a withdrawal agreement." /003
#tariffs #NoDeal #Brexit #WTO #ProjectFear #shortages #food #medicines
003/ #quote "One of the most ridiculous and UNJUSTIFIED of these absurd scare stories is that it will lead to higher prices, and even shortages, of foods and medicines." /004
Read 180 tweets
Profile picture
Thread: things #white people are accused of doing wrong. Sometimes it's not even about doing, it's simply about white people being.

#TooManyWhitePeople

#NotDiverseEnough

#WhitePeopleTalking

#WhitePeopleNotTalking

#WhiteDomain #WhitesStole

And no doubt more along the way..
"Is your spin class too...white?" 🤔

#TooManyWhitePeople #WhatToDo?
The unbearable whiteness of cycling..." 😬

#TooManyWhites #WhatToDo?
Read 18 tweets
Profile picture
Financial commitments are ultimately a political issue. There are far deeper, possibly irreconcilable, holes in UK’s Brexit plans. A list:
1) Outside the customs union and single market, there is – as things stand – no solution in Ireland.
2) It is still not clear what the UK wants to transition to. A list of adjectives is not a plan.
Read 9 tweets

Trending hashtags

#MLK #HappyLaborDay #SPS #whiteprivilege #food #zones #EpiWritingChallenge #poultry #environment #chicken #delusion #example #Levi #45DaysOfElvisCostello #countries #race #trademark #WhatToDo #customs #oranges #Manassah #license #bigdaga #opendats #stupid

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!