Profile picture
Joe Owen @jl_owen
, 6 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
If you want to understand how ready - or not - the UK is for 'no deal', you should read this NAO report.

nao.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

It shows just how much work is happening inside Whitehall - v impressive against any normal standards - but...
It also shows very clearly how nightmarish the politics, risk, complexity and timelines are. You can't deliver major projects with that toxic combination of problems

Defra is responsible for:
- 1 in 6 Brexit workstreams
- 1 in 8 statutory instruments
- 1 in 3 Brexit Bills
It also has a role at the border, working with devolved administrations,engaging wide variety of orgs incl NGOs, farmers, supermarkets, doing trade policy, devising ambitious new post-BRexit policy in agri/fish.
It's got 1300 new staff.

But it lost around 1 in 3 members of staff through cuts between 2010 and 2016

Those cuts were reversed in less than two years after referendum - but new hires don't replace experience.
Lots of the 'deal or no deal' debate is about politics. But sooner or later the practicalities will become the politics and this NAO report shows clearly where things are at...
Read our @instituteforgov preparing Brexit paper if your interested in the wider story of secrecy, planning issues and toxic politics - instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/p…
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 Joe Owen
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 @jl_owen see all

Profile picture
Quick thoughts on immigration white paper. Whatever you think of policy - it’s probably one of/the best Brexit white paper in terms of detail/supporting analysis, it swerves a couple of very very tricky or very very political issues
The white paper dodges the question of net migration target (as Sajid Javid tried to on the radio) by not mentioning it but cross referring to the Conservative Party manifesto… which does have 100,000 target.
It also dodges what happens after March 2019 if there is no deal? DExEU have said what happens to citizens already in UK, nothing yet from govt on EU citizens arriving after Mar19
Read 16 tweets
Profile picture
As the Cabinet finally makes some decisions on no deal planning beyond "technical notices" - worth pointing out how little this meeting has actually changed...

(Spoiler - not very much...)
Firstly - the money

This £2bn will make a grand total of zero difference to the UK's readiness for no deal.

Why? Because it's for the year 2019/20. So not a penny will be available to departments until the UK has left the EU.
It will be helpful as the UK continues to adapt to life after EU in '20.

We were told by officials that base no deal plans for 2019 aimed *ensuring the UK did not break international law* - so that leaves plenty of room for improvement.

But that doesn't help for March.
Read 13 tweets
Profile picture
Seeing as today is actually 6 months to go until Brexit, read our @instituteforgov paper from a few weeks ago setting out where things are at

We were asked by @BBCNews @BBCRealityCheck to assess progress - including Red/Amber/Green ratings
There is an excellent summary of the report by @BBCChrisMorris here:

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
And since then we’ve* done this attractive/alarming table summarising no deal notices

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/charts/what-go…

* @timd_IFG @lewisalloyd @AAIacobov @ThimontJack @melissaittoo
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Report on social media polarization commissioned by Senate Intel Committee done by the Computational Propaganda Research Project at the Oxford Institute comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…
“all [IRA] Instagram posts garnered almost 185 million likes and users commented about 4 million times [across 116,205 posts]”

Commercial influencer agencies pay Instagram stars to make product placements. Kim Kardashian charges $250,000 per post for ~2 million likes.
Compare Instagram activity against Facebook activity. See how the Facebook ads were not the story here? See how Facebook’s initial claim that $100K of ads “no big deal” was a deception? Instagram was not a major topic of Congressional hearings. It should have been. Via @oiioxford
Read 8 tweets
Profile picture
FINAL DAY of the #postofficetrial. Follow this thread for a day of live tweets - just been told we’re going till 5pm - longest day so far. Have a photo of a Christmas Tree with a spaceship landing behind it.
All these tweets are notes and paraphrases. No direct quotes unless they are in direct quotes.

for background on this trial please go to postofficetrial.com
We are in Court 26 of the High Court Rolls Building. Mr David Cavender, QC for the Post Office.

He is on day 2 of his closing argument.

We are talking about explicit, agreed and implied terms.

With reference to the Authorities.
Read 229 tweets
Profile picture
WOW. What magical thinking. This just shows how little Prof. Sharpe knows about us. Fact is, many people with ME have sacrificed their health/bodies/and yes, their lives, in order to bring these requests and publish in academic journals with the goal of ending graded exercise.
I imagine he thinks the 12,000 people who signed this petition were phantoms? meaction.net/reach/press-re…
And that those of us who complain on social media are just a small group of fringey activists, akin to climate change deniers? thefacultylounge.org/2017/07/questi…
Read 12 tweets
Profile picture
At DexEU ctte @hayward_katy tells Sammy Wilson her view is that the backstop could not be seen as a change to NI's constitutional status. Though adds that it raises 'interesting questions about governance' post-Brexit.
Mr Wilson says this is 'dancing on the head of a pin' & reckons this breaches principle of consent. Dr Hayward disagrees - principle of consent is about NI becoming part of a united Ireland.
She refers to the specialised committee mentioned in the Irish protocol as a way in which NI could be represented, possibly in a 'decision shaping role' in specific areas.
Read 36 tweets
Profile picture
UK High Court: statements by Saudi officials claiming to respect international law constitute evidence "of some significance" of Saudi commitment to international law judiciary.uk/wp-content/upl…
Mohammed Bin Salman issues decree “pardoning all military men” fighting in Yemen “of their respective military and disciplinary penalties, in regard of some rules and discipline” thenational.ae/world/gcc/saud…
UK Government: “The Saudis have the best insight into their own military procedures, and will be able to conduct the most thorough and conclusive investigations . . . [W]e need to have faith in Saudi Arabia” hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-0…
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Right then, with the warning that this is going to be a long thread, I'm going to try to distill the key points from the IEA #PlanAPlus report - which is typical of their work - lots of trade terms used questionably 1/ iea.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
So this is upfront, in the Executive Summary. Zero tariffs on agriculture we do not produce. It is unlikely to make a huge difference to prices, but could make a big difference to developing countries who currently have zero tariffs 2/
I interpret this to mean we should replace the 21 month transition period with a basic Free Trade Agreement with the EU. Zero tariffs would require us to determine optimal rules of origin for all products in 6 months. Not happening 3/
Read 42 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Russia #Energy #Republican #OCEAN #Manafort #StopBrexit #ucustrikes #Fox #sarcasm #BritishVirginIslands #London #Wylie #Putin #SLC #CustomsUnion #Exista #LiveSTSplus #WhiteHouse #Breitbart #farmers #minimumwage #Russian #ZanderGroup #Tory #ucustrike

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 ($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!