Interesting point that Global Britain has to first clear the pretty high bar of not becoming Global England, given the likely crumbling of the UK
Does “global britain” really just mean that we want global reach? And if so, can we be sufficiently humble and dial down the hubris to succeed?
And @edballs makes the point that government needs to strike a balance between ambition and humility. I’d add ability.
British exceptionalism must be laid to rest lest we want to alienate international allies and future partners on trade, security and climate
And @edballs says Starmer can’t afford to allow Johnson to own the phrase Global Britain
Now @JoJohnsonUK says we aren’t match fit to play on global stage without major upskilling and investment in our infrastructure. Says gvt still unclear on strategy for combining levelling up with their trade ambitions. Need to marry the two.
Lord Macpherson says it’s really important that Britain remains open and current gvt instincts too protectionist. Reminds us that services must be prioritised.
Says successful service sector requires world class talent in tech, fin tech, biotech etc, and that will need a review of the poor immigration policies we currently have
Growth strategies of Ken Clarke, Gordon Brown and George Osborne had similarities around skills, innovation and investment. Says we need cross party approach to education. And to keep the Union together.
@EmilyThornberry reminds us that Johnson has been talking about Global Britain for years and has yet to define it
She was making a serious point about the belief in the idea rather than a concrete reality. The negative impact on our exporters and importers is supposed to be outweighed by future dividends from trade beyond the EU.
But that leap of faith is going to be very difficult. And it’s not obvious there WILL be a soft landing. Given the feebleness of the deals being signed by Truss
@EmilyThornberry predicts Parliament will end up debating the issues like the impact of our trade deals on human rights, environmental standards, etc rather than the monetary value of them
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I am full of rage. I can’t bear the mistakes this nasty, incompetent government keeps making.
It chose not to fight the virus, but to try and live with it. It’s no surprise therefore that the mutation almost certainly happened on these shores not elsewhere.
The government has spent the year pandering to its libertarian flank, themselves unrepresentative of the vast majority of Brits who favoured lockdown.
They put up the false binary of choosing between lives and livelihoods. And ultimately failed us on both.
I am so angry. It didn’t have to be like this. We are an island. We should’ve locked down hard, and fast.
We should’ve implemented testing sooner and better. And secured our borders with proper testing at airports and ports, followed by quarantining and retesting.
The popular vote rejected Brexit last year. More people voted for anti Brexit parties than pro, but our fptp voting system bastardises electoral outcomes meaning election outcomes are a poor reflection of what voters actually want. Johnson and Farage exploited that.
There are currently 1,344,356 known cases of #covid19 in the UK, and 51,766 people have died.
The UK is the first country in Europe to pass the 50,000 milestone, and only the fifth country in the world to do so after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
Our population is much smaller than those countries and according to John Hopkins University, we have the 4th worst per capita deaths from covid in the world
So there can be no mistaking that out government has failed Britain badly.
It has no plan beyond lurching from lockdown to a tier system that has already proven unsuccessful. The vaccine escape route is at least a year off.
I am unbearably sad and angry for young people.
Exam grade chaos, a horrendous U.K. economic outlook (worse than for most big economies) and a jobs bloodbath.
Previously they’d have had the right to work in 27 other countries.
But their FoM has been stolen from them.
The VERY least this negligent Cummings regime could do for them, is to secure British access to the Erasmus scheme, giving young Brits access to work experience and study abroad.
We risk creating a lost generation, who are uncompetitive in the world, who lack access to skills and training, and who will come to resent those who foisted this situation upon them.
Politicians can’t be allowed to neglect future voters like this
According to a new @CBItweets poll of its members out today, 75 percent of businesses said they were either very or moderately concerned that a deal with the EU has not been reached.
21 percent said they are less prepared for Brexit now than they were in January, with that figure rising to 27 percent for manufacturers.
And @cbicarolyn says “What’s clear from this wide-ranging survey is that the majority of firms have neither the time nor resources to prepare for a non-negotiated EU exit,”
Interestingly, my timeline has exploded with support for Layla Moran over Ed Davey in the last few days, and just before ballot papers are issued at the end of this week.
Most citing being at 6% in the polls under Davey as interim for the past 7 months, as the reason.
Whomever wins, it’s crucial they work properly with Labour and the other opposition parties now, to build trust ahead of 2024 when an electoral pact is necessary.
I’ve been banging on about a progressive alliance since coalition, and am glad to hear more people in both LDs and Labour coming around to the idea.