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John Redwood
@johnredwood
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
The EU talks are not going anywhere – let’s table a free trade agreement.
johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/02/08/the…
Under GATT rules if the EU agrees to talk abt this we can leave on 29/3 w/o needing to impose new tariff & non tariff barriers on EU exports to us & the EU wld do the same for our exports to them. There's a period of up to 10 years to agree a final text of a replacement FTA.
Any kind of Withdrawal Agreement would leave the UK very exposed - the EU could legislate any way it wished to damage UK interests as leverage, whilst continuing to charge us large and unspecified sums for the privilege of more talks.
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John Redwood
@johnredwood
Who is running Brexit policy & what is it? If you listen to Sir Martin Donelly, former Perm Sec at the Department of Internat'l Trade & friend & supporter of Ollie Robbins, senior civil servant negotiator for the UK, we have to accept that the WA is as good as it gets & sign it.
There does not seem to have been any effort to design and table a Free Trade Agreement, and our best trade negotiator Crawford Falconer has been kept well away from all the EU talks.
The problem is the warring factions around the Cabinet table and in Whitehall, where it appears there are more who wish to delay or thwart the will of the people than there are believers in just leaving in March.
Read 3 tweets
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John Redwood
@johnredwood
There are 2 advantages of tabling a draft FTA. The EU indicated that it wld be easier to agree than a 1/2 in 1/2 out arrg't the UK negotiators seem to want. Our draft shd be based on the best of the EU/ Canada & Japan agmt so we're only asking for what they've granted to others.
We could then under Article 24 of Gatt/WTO agree to no new barriers pending agreement. This would be especially advantageous to the rest of the EU given their huge surplus with us in food and cars, where tariffs would otherwise be imposed.
The ERG is working with experts to produce a full legal text draft. I look forward to its early publication, as then the Government could just table that one if they still have not drafted one of their own.
Read 3 tweets
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John Redwood
@johnredwood
Some in Govt say leaving w/o a deal will be bad, it hasn't done all it needs to leave on 29/3 & playing up any bad econ or business news that comes along. Normally govts are guilty of putting too optimistic a spin. Not this one who oft seem to prefer the EU spin line against us.
It is clear the planes will fly, the trucks will pass through Calais and Dover in good time & there will be no food or drug shortages. I'm not going to stockpile anything. It looks as if the pressure for a second referendum has abated, which anyway cannot be held before 29 March.
Yet, Remain forces in Parliament now want delay. They have failed to say what we could agree after March that we have been unable to agree in the 2 years 9 months since the vote, and failed to spell out why the EU would let us have a delay to renegotiate and on what terms.
Read 3 tweets

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001/ [article content in this tweet series 001-180 reproduced with permission from Martin Howe QC of Lawyers for Britain @lawyers4britain]
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- Best geography
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- Not trade dependent
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Top trade partners as of 30 June 2018:
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- Canada: 15.1%
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- Germany: 4.4%

The next 10 years could result in the below:
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@Otpor17
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Steve Analyst
@EmporersNewC
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