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alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

7 Dec

I sometimes feel we are prisoners in a "heads you win, tails I lose" situation. Brexit is the will of the people, even if it isn't anymore. We must respect the 2016 refdm for all eternity - though Brexiteers felt no such obligation to respect the 1975 refdm to stay in the EU🧵

If the EU acts reasonably in negotiations with us, it means we are winning, and must push for more. If in fact they are out to punish us, and are not playing fair, then we must be even tougher. If they back down, it shows being tough was right.

We are committed to the GFA and no hard border in Ireland. If we keep asserting this, then it's the fault of Ireland/EU if a hard border needs to be erected, tho' the circumstances in which this situation arose was purely due to our decision to leave the EU, SM and CU

Read 17 tweets

alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

2 Dec

https://twitter.com/alexhallhall/status/1466097196156264467

With apols for R/T, there were obv many other things I could not have foretold (proroguing parliament; downplaying impact on GFA, now threatening to invoke Art 16 etc ) but if there was one other big factor which still astounds me, it was the threat to leave with no deal...

https://twitter.com/alexhallhall/status/1466097196156264467

It's simply mind boggling to recall that two years ago there was a serious prospect of No Deal happening; and that to prepare for that, 1000s of staff across Whitehall were deployed on an emergency basis to handle potential fallout

The risk of No Deal forced us to adopt the kind of crisis posture that typically occurs in response to a major terrorist incident, or natural disaster. But this was an entirely self-imposed situation.

Read 7 tweets

alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

1 Dec

I've had many ask why I took the job as Brexit Csllr, if I was as opposed to Brexit as my recent tweets now suggest? Or why I didn't just resign after the ref. I suspect I won't persuade many of my genuine intentions, and apols to those who've heard this before, but here goes...

First, as a professional civil servant, it was not my place to question the decision to hold the referendum, or how it was conducted, or the result. Whatever my personal views on the wisdom or otherwise of leaving the EU, I never felt I had a right to oppose it, while in govt.

Also, like many Remainers, I felt that like it or not, the results of the ref needed to be respected. I also had family members and friends who voted Leave - I disagreed (strongly) with their reasons but respected their right to have their views

Read 18 tweets

alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

30 Nov

Today's factoid: 2 wks ago I invited people to send examples of how they personally had been affected by Brexit; and a separate tweet requesting positive examples. I got 422 replies to the 1st, many heartrending. 7 replies to the 2nd. This alone is revealing. But there's more...

Of the +ve replies, (all contributed in good faith), one was that UK/US scientists had been able to invent covid vaccines - on which I note this has nothing to do with being in or out of the EU; scientists being able to do such research all along, irrespective of EU membership;

And while in EU, easier for scientists to collaborate with EU counterparts, and benefit from EU Horizon funds. I do acknowledge UK vaccine procurement and distribution effort was v impressive...at least at start of year, though we've now fallen behind, alas.

Read 7 tweets

alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

27 Nov

Venturing into fraught territory, how do we establish a sustainable, coherent, long term approach on refugees/migrants, that is more humane than current Home Office policy of making life even more miserable for people who are already desperate?…A thread

(On which I have some experience, having headed FCO humanitarian unit in 1990s, covering refugees, war crimes, Geneva Conventions etc; and Hd Human Rights dept in 2000s)

And visited camps/discussed policy on refugees/displaced persons from Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Somalia, Rwanda, Syria, Palestine, Colombia, Angola, Afghanistan, Abkhazia, and many, many more over my career

Read 14 tweets

alexandra hall hall

@alexhallhall

22 Nov

This week I shall try to give more substance to my thread last week about US views on Brexit. But first, some background on why it was so difficult to convince American sceptics that Brexit was a good idea. [Partly in response to critics that I was obviously lousy at my job].

First, the talking points simply lacked substance. Our top lines would be bland assurances (eg "we're committed to the GFA; no hard border;"; "We'll get a new free trade, no tariffs, no quotas deal with EU etc with little detail on how this would be delivered.

Second, the messages were primarily aimed for UK domestic audience, and highly political, so eg contained numerous barbs at the EU, which jarred with assurances Ministers would give to US contacts that of course we would always remain friends and allies of the EU.

Read 15 tweets

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