1/ Brexiters say "where does the GFA mention the EU?"
Nowhere does the US Constitution mention "privacy", but it is assumed to be a constitutional right for all Americans. It is a non-enumerated concept.
EU membership underpins the very BASIS of the GFA, co-sovereignty.
2/ The GFA allowed someone from NI to be Irish, or British, or both. This normally could not work, but because both parties are subject to the same rules, same customs area, same Travel Area, it is possible. EU membership underpins the first two of these.
3/ The GFA also explicitly requires several new institutions that can only work if both countries are in the the same CU and SM:
A) The "North South Ministerial Council", covering agriculture; education; environment; health; tourism; and transport.
B) The "Implementation Bodies"
4/ These bodies:
Waterways Ireland
Food Safety Promotion Board
Special EU Programmes Body
North/South Language Body
Trade and Business Development Body
Foyle Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission
Whether EU is mentioned or not these REQUIRE IRL & NI to be in the same CU & SM
5/ And finally: areas of cross-border co-operation on the island of Ireland.
Many are entirely dependent on membership of the EU (or at least the SM and CU). All are partially dependent on EU membership, at one level or another.
(There are also cross-cutting Issues such as:...
6/ ...
-data protection including personal data & info sharing
-public procurement
-state aid rules
-H & S & employ't frameworks re. personnel issues in Implementation Bodies
-access to EU funding
-provision & access to services
-professional qualifications
-Common Travel Area)
7/ "The GFA barely mentions the EU" they say.
When you are having your house repainted or windows replaced, the contract might not even mention the existing foundations; that doesn't mean they can be removed with no effect.
8/
So the next time a Brexiter says "border tech" (Borg tech) or Max-fac (max-crap) or Blockchain (bog chain), show them this thread.
Brexit and the GFA is about far more than sheep or tariffs or cameras on poles.
"co-sovereignty" is not quite right: in NI, the UK sovereignty is REAL and the Irish version is like a perfect CGI. A virtual reality sovereignty. But the virtual reality software (the GFA) can only run on an EU-membership OS ... while Brexit rolls the UK back to DOS 1.0
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In 2016, the brexit referendum was a petri dish for the US General Election. The same people - Cambridge Analytica, Thiel, Bannon , the Mercers & Putin - ran the same plays and won both times.
What if the UK riots are a dry run for the US election?
The UK riots show that if enough fuel has been poured, a small spark can start a big fire.
In the UK politicians like Farage, Cameron, May, Braverman and Patel and newspapers like the Telegraph, Mail, Express and Sun, for years splashed the petrol of anti-immigrant hatred.
2/
Eventually it took one tweeted lie - that the murderer of 3 little girls was a Muslim , "illegal" immigrant ,and a recent small boats arrival - to set the spark.
A small ecosystem of bought-and-paid-for RW influencers quickly fanned the flames, and the rest is history.
3/
Brexit has a new trilemma, even worse than "Leave the SM & CU AND No NI/IE border AND no NI/GB border".
Now it is "Growth AND low immigration AND stay out of the SM &CU"
If Brexit just makes us poorer, parliament after parliament, decade after decade, it cannot stand.
1/
It may take some time; the English have an unmatched ability to keep going long after everyone - including themselves - can see it's not working. (Watching a retired bank manager taking on a space smaller than his car can be hours of fun - or piano vs. staircase half-landing.)
2/
But eventually people will have enough of getting poorer and the prospect of getting ever-poorer, when there is an alternative just there for the taking.
The trilemma faced by Brexiters like Bill Cash, ranting about immigrants, is their red lines on immigration & SM/CU are
3/
I have seen various estimates of how much extra peak demand would be added to the UK grid if all 23 M gas-fired Domestic Boilers were swapped for ASHP's overnight.
The average UK dwelling is 90m2 and typically has radiators sized on rule of thumb at 100W/m2...
1/
So... in theory, if all the Heat Pumps were working at 82 deg flow/ 71 deg C Return, and all the radiators in the UK were simultaneously putting out 9 KW per dwelling, that comes to 207GW of heat. Which on a very cold day would require 100GW of Electricity. (Shock horror!)
2/
But that is nonsense. In reality, most ASHPs operate at 55 Flow / 50 Return and at those water temperatures radiators that emit 9kW at 82/71 will emit about 4kW.
So... what if we keep the old boilers instead of replacing them and just retrofit an ASHP in series?
3/
A couple of days back I tweeted how the Government now permits employers to pay migrant workers in shortage occupations 20% less than the going rate.
(Which Article 45 of TFEU would have prevented, before Brexit)
How did they cover it?
Badly. Anyone reading it would think it just applies to builders, carpenters and fishing industry - people not like "us" (managers, engineers, scientists, actuaries, vets etc)
Anyone using the BBC for information would think it just affects some horny-handed types on building sites and - who knows - maybe bring back the good old days of Polish plumbers who could re-do your ensuite at 1 weeks notice.
Either the Tories have not thought through the implications of the post-brexit immigration rules... or they have thought them through all too well.
I have a nasty inkling of what they might be up to, but it takes a bit of explaining.
Let's start with "before brexit"...
1/
Article 45 TFEU is a fundamental right of workers which entails the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality as regards remuneration. Plain-speak: an employer could not underpay an immigrant from Italy, say, just on the basis that they were not from the UK.
2/
Prior to brexit the majority of migrant workers were from EEA countries and this rule protected them.
It was not legal for a UK employer to bring in "cheap foreign workers" to undercut UK staff, and as result immigration from the EU was heavily skewed toward the jobs...
3/
Here we have Electricity and Gas prices in Euro per 100kWh, in February 2023, throughout Europe.
Where it gets REALLY interesting is when you compare the ***ratio*** of Electricity price to Gas price: See next tweet.
1/
The UK has by far the highest ratio of Electricity price to Gas price.
This is a result of Tory Government policies: 1. Gas for electricity incurs a Carbon Tax, whereas gas for boilers does not. 2. The price of ALL electricity is set by the price of Gas-fired electricity.
2/
.... which, of course, includes the Carbon Tax!
3. The government loads "policy" costs - such as the warm homes discount for poorer households - disproportionately onto electricity bills; £140 uplift for electricity vs £34 for gas.