George Osborne will threaten today to put 2p on the basic rate of income tax, raise fuel duty and slash spending on health, education, defence and pensions in an emergency budget in the weeks after a Brexit vote.
In the Remain campaign’s most explicit ultimatum to voters, the chancellor outlines tax rises and cuts to frontline services of £30 billion, which are being readied in case Britain opts to leave the European Union next week.
The interesting question is whether people are going to believe the lying little shit.
Or whether he’ll still have the job whereby he can carry out his threats …
Be a bit hard to see the justification. Whether the referendum returns a Leave or Remain vote, absolutely nothing will have changed. The UK will still be in the EU.
These people are utterly shameless. This is clearly an abuse of power.
This is quite an unpleasant tactic, because he certainly could raise tax rates. Not sure if he will, but the threat of it could convince a lot of people to vote his way.
That £30bn is an interesting figure. I read that it is our share of the EU unfunded liability, so the easy answer would be not to pay it when we leave. £30bn saved.
Gideon’s goose is well and truly cooked I would say from peoples reaction to this desperation.
As someone pointed out. Holding a referendum was a manifesto commitment, as was not raising income tax . So a nice little conundrum for CCHQ and The 22 to sort out.
Does a former chancellor of the exchequer have the power to raise taxes?
No he won’t
http://news.sky.com/story/1712072/tory-mps-fight-back-over-osborne-brexit-budget
57 MPs have said they’d vote against it.
He’s toast now whichever way the vote goes. Good riddence to bad rubbish.
Watch now how the polls respond to another round of “vote our way or we’ll beat you” from our domestic pols rather than just from the Eurocrats.
Cos there’s nothing the British psyche likes more than being bullied, nosiree. Brits respond really well to that in the privacy of the voting booth…
It’s going to be just lovely next Friday when the pols and the left leaning media realise that the British people have collectively told the lot ’em to fuck right off.
I was thinking up to a few days ago that it would be a close-run thing. But with the latest poles and things like this:
http://order-order.com/2016/06/14/stoke-on-trent-labour-supporters-back-leave/
I suspect it could be verging on a landlide.
I shall sup on the tears of the self-righteous if it comes to pass.
It is truly staggering how supposedly intelligent people (for some, fairly low value of “intelligence”) like Cameron and Osborne have allowed themselves to be so utterly revealed as obnoxious bullying lying cunts whom nobody will ever vote for again, nor probably even piss on if they were on fire.
Whichever way the vote goes, the political re-alignment that follows and the festering resentment from all sides, in Britain and Europe, is guaranteed to enliven our political scene. We all accept there’ll be a lot of shit coming down the pipeline post referendum and some hard choices will have to be made. Then there’s the next election…six-million or more Ukip voters is not inconceivable as the Tories track left to mop up Blairite voters – and yet they still won’t have any MPs. A bitter and anarchic right (and left). The centre ground disillusioned, wracked with guilt for having chickened out.
Bernie G – UKIP actually already have an MP , one Mr Carlswell 🙂
Maybe it’s really a message for other Tory MP’s; “If I go down I’ll make sure I pull the whole party down with me”?
After the last budget Osborne demonstrated he was the 2nd worst Chancellor so nice the war, if not ever. If he carries on like this he surpass Brown for the title.
Anyone wanting a sneak preview of Cameron and Osborne’s imminent enlightenment should watch Nicolae Ceasescu’s last speech and the delicious moment when it dawns on him that the noise from the crowd is not the sound of cheering.
Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? Do as we tell you or we’ll raise your taxes? Are they insane? Its almost as if the Remainers are trying to force people to go ‘Fuck you then’ and vote Leave.
I can’t believe they’re fucking this up so badly. Winning the Remain vote was a piece of piss. People tend not to vote for the ‘change’ option in these votes, they bias towards the status quo. All the Remain camp had to do was subtly emphasise the safety aspect of remaining, and leave it at that. People’s natural hesitancy to take a jump into the dark would do the rest.
But oh no. They had to use the sledgehammer and make out that leaving would bring about all manner of evils as yet unseen by man. By going over the top, they’ve destroyed their best argument, the ‘stick with what you know’ one. Everyone will have heard something from the Remain’s daily litany of doom thats made them go ‘Well they’re just making it up now!’ and thats it. When you suddenly realise they are out and out lying, you bias the other way. Its human nature.
Well, I won’t be voting Conservative again.
There was some crap going around on FB this morning about how libraries and parks in the UK are dependent on EU funding. It was hard to know where to start: firstly, if the UK is a net contributor then the funding can simply come from elsewhere. Secondly, this has gone the way of the Scottish referendum with one side motivated by how many supposedly cost-free handouts they can get.
Bloke in Italy,
He’s been on the side of such utterly ridiculous nonsense that his whole credibility is shot.
This whole problem is because of festering subjects that Establishment Politicians have simply failed to deal with. Whether you agree or not about immigration, it’s a big deal to some people, and the people have been promised action and none has been forthcoming. The politicians have taken the people for fools. They’ve frankly insulted them for years over what they will do about it. Even this week, you’ve got Tom Watson talking about how we really should address this. I mean, does anyone out there honestly believe some sort of vague commitment a week before when the politicians are shitting themselves?
This just didn’t need to happen. Cameron could have gone to the EU and renegotiated seriously with a strong line on a “if this isn’t good enough, I’ll be backing exit”. Instead, he got nothing and is still campaigning to remain. If he’d got something real, a real scaling back, some solid opt-outs, Remain would have walked it.
“He’s toast now whichever way the vote goes.”
Please stop using this analogy. I like toast. It is tasty and nutritious and indeed very English, especially with butter and thick-cut marmalade.
PS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJmKStqugMc
What fantastic news!
Having told a pack of brazen lies for months–the cunts are actually threatening to impoverish us if we dare to defy them by voting against what they want. Short of actually ordering us to vote for the EU Osburke could not have done more for Brexit if he tried.
The only problem here is that not enough people may hear about what has happened.
“Vote for the EU or we’ll punish you”–its fucking genius. The Grinning Skull must be a UKIP Secret Agent.
Does Osborne have a history of self-harm?
Osborne rather gave it away when he referred to himself, in a Select Committee interview, as Finance Minister.
Massive tax rises if we Brexit*? No doubt the Guardian will be joining the Leave team forthwith.
(*Yes, it’s a verb too.)
Tim Newman,
“There was some crap going around on FB this morning about how libraries and parks in the UK are dependent on EU funding. It was hard to know where to start: firstly, if the UK is a net contributor then the funding can simply come from elsewhere. Secondly, this has gone the way of the Scottish referendum with one side motivated by how many supposedly cost-free handouts they can get.”
This is EXACTLY what Remain is about. I had two conversations which basically went:-
“we should stay in because of spending on X”
“but we can leave and spend it ourselves”
“yeah, but Cameron won’t, will he”
“hang on, Cameron is the elected prime minister. He is the will of the people, whether you like it or not. Are you saying you don’t approve of what our elected leaders decide we should do?”
*** crickets ***
Remain is The Establishment fighting for a way to keep its goodies. They know that the proles will vote for “do it” with regards to cutting wanky spending, and they see the EU as a way to keep wanky spending. The EU has thrown about lots of wanky spending to create these cheerleaders. And the cheerleaders then spread fear to try to convince non-establishment people to stay.
The penny just didn’t drop until these conversations, but when it did, I signed up to volunteer with Vote Leave. I’d assumed arithmetically illiterate, but it’s not. It’s a deliberate desire to fuck over the rest of us.
“The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
Hmmm… Some policies of the EU have been a complete disaster, the Euro being the outstanding example. And the direction of travel is the wrong way.
But the indications are that if we leave, the EU will actually seek to make a nuisance of themselves, just to spite us. And I think it is true that some foreign investment will be lost.
In many ways this reinforces my unwillingness to be bullied into supporting the EU’s lunacies. But are you guys seriously saying that for the next 5 years or so, a Leave vote won’t hit the UK economy? I think it will; the question for me is whether that is a price worth paying.
Sadiq Khan and Donald Trump were seen off by establishment types telling the proles not to vote for them.
I guess they just assumed it would work again.
@Nick – the EU seems to be running “Argumentum ad battered-wifeam”. Sure, he beats her. But if she votes to leave, he’ll beat her harder.
Ignoring, for a moment, the utter stupidity of the idea (or that the Great British Public would fall for such an obviously idle threat), how would he get an austerity-plus budget through parliament? 57 Tory MPs won’t support it – can anyone see the SNP and the Corbynistas queuing up to back greater austerity? The former will be busying themselves arranging for Joxit (to the sound of cries of rejoicing from South of the Border).
Naughty Nick
Nobody knows the price, but it would be cutting off their nose etc. They sell us so much, they will not put that at risk.
I do not want to be memeber of a club that threatens me so I keep paying the dues.
Sovereignty is a key issue for me and I have no desire to move towards a unified super-Europe. They have demonstrated that they have nothing to ffer us. Only the Antarctic is economically worse than the EU. The UK, like the vast majority of countries on this planet will not just survive but flourish outside the EU.
I am still waiting for one positive reason to remain.
Desperate tactics from Georgie Boy. The only way he can go from here is tears and begging.
But the indications are that if we leave, the EU will actually seek to make a nuisance of themselves
It depends what indications you look at.
Wolfgang Schäuble announced, in that manner so admired by all, that Britain would not have easy access to the single market. Others in the EU have made similar noises.
So, you’re right so far.
However, Herr Schäuble will not yet have got agreement from the unions, and he’s unlikely to.
Meanwhile, in La Belle France, the workers are in arms yet again. If the EU does make trouble, that means trouble for EU businesses and workers, including those in France. We are a nett importer.
The French will certainly take umbrage, up to and including burning Brussels to the ground.
I just saw some numbers on the Volokh Conspiracy site (in the comments) that say the UK spends 14 billion on the EU and receives 7 billion back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/06/14/brexit-and-political-ignorance/
“NoTheoryofJurisprudence
6/14/2016 3:06 PM PST
(1) In 2014 the UK spent about $14B funding the EU, and received about $7B out of it. ”
If this is the case, why would he need to raise taxes? Is this wrong? Is the UK government getting more money back from Brussels than they’re paying in? Because it seems to me like Brexit means a $7 billion windfall – unless the EU government is providing more than $7 billion worth of services.
Which I would highly doubt as the EU government is a policy shop that pushes off the costs of implimentation onto member governments.
“Jack C
June 15, 2016 at 10:53 am
The French will certainly take umbrage, up to and including burning Brussels to the ground.”
The French will take umbrage, up to and including burning their neighbor’s Citroen to the ground (after flipping it over).
They’ll strike, making things worse for themselves and their countrymen, in support of policies that make things worse for themselves and their countrymen.
And after the tantrum is over their government will carry on its course as if nothing had happened.
You think Hollande will vote to impede French exports to Britain?
Thomas Fuller – “It is tasty and nutritious and indeed very English, especially with butter and thick-cut marmalade.”
Well toast is often thick. My basic problem is that I can’t find a half decent marmalade any more. They all seem too sweet. Maybe it is me and my taste buds are changing. However that does mean the Tories have something in common with marmalade – they don’t make either of them like they used to.
Gideon can’t f**k off quickly enough.
Chris – Can’t fault your logic, and it supports a pet prediction of mine re: what happens next.
I’m expecting Leave to win by about 5 points.
Naturally, that doesn’t mean we Leave immediately. UKGOV will do everything in its power to dissemble and delay. Our Establishment is enemy-held territory, from the tea boys in Whitehall all the way up to the Prime Minister.
Sooner or later things will come to a head – you can only bullshit the public for so long – and there’ll be a vote of no confidence. Bye-bye Cameron and Osborne.
Our Prester John in this scenario is the unlikely figure of Mr. Jeremy “Jez” Corbyn.
I get the sense he is only very reluctantly on the Remain side. What will he do if Britain votes Leave? He could yet prove to be the accidental hero of the piece.
Germany will continue to trade with us, as it is a major exporter. The rest of the EU will do what Germany says, as usual.
SMFS – can’t even collect the tokens to get a golliwog either these days. Sad!
The question is whether we should go for a better deal than we have now, or just accept something similar.
It’s Britain that will hold the cards.
The Inimitable Steve – “can’t even collect the tokens to get a golliwog either these days. Sad!”
Damn the EU! Yet Another Excellent Reason to Leave.
Nautical Nick,
“But the indications are that if we leave, the EU will actually seek to make a nuisance of themselves, just to spite us.”
Look, this is not the early 1900s when people felt a great connection to and would defend their country and suffer for the fatherland. We’re all internationally, informally connected. You think the people who sell the software I use in Denmark or the Czech Republic are going to just sit idly back and nod their heads when they find they can no longer sell support contracts to their massive UK market? Few people have any loyalty to the EU. In France, support for it is even weaker than here, so I’m pretty sure that not being able to take bookings over the phone for Gites in Brittany is not going to go down well. Where’s Ireland going to export all its mountains of butter to if not here?
It’s pure bullshit.
The interesting thing is his assumption that he’ll be staying on as Chancellor.
I am still waiting for one positive reason to remain
And here’s the oddity. The default assumption is that Leave is based on emotion, Remain on reason, and careful analysis.
The campaigns are quite the other way around though.
It’s easy to dismiss Project Fear as misguided stupidity. But maybe the Remainers couldn’t think of anything else?
Certainly Corbyn has no enthusiasm.
Well, his mate Dave committed suicide, so I guess George had to follow him.
Not many people respond to threats that aren’t backed up by physical violence.
Perhaps Teresa is saving that one up.
If you vote leave, you’ll be shot. There are still a few days left and I think now they’ve run out of other threats.
I’m still marvelling at the absolutely batsh1t off-the-wall insanity of this whole thing.
Gideon. Delenda. Est.
They couldn’t think of anything else. Because there aren’t any arguments in favour of Remain.
He’s delenda-ing himself, Abacab. I don’t think he needs help with that.
“Vote remain or…
– the EU will be nasty to us.
– We’ll be forced to deport all EU citizens
– British citizens living in EU countries will be deported
– we won’t be able to trade at all with the continent (what, a blockade? Srsly?)
– we’ll raise your taxes
– etc etc etc”
there aren’t any arguments in favour of Remain
Here’s one:
Trade, whether import or export, makes us richer (Tim W says so)
Leaving a free trade area creates new trade barriers with it
Therefore, leaving a free trade area makes us poorer
When only 13% of your trade is with the “Free Trade Area” and it forces you to have protectionist barriers against trade with the other 87% of your market, not so. The thing we call a Free Trade Area is actually a customs union remember.
sjw – it’s not a fuckng free trade area, it’s a fucking customs union, with whom we carrout less than 50% OF OUR TRADE ERGO IT MAKES US POORER.
TWAT.
“Trade, whether import or export, makes us richer (Tim W says so)
Leaving a free trade area creates new trade barriers with it
Therefore, leaving a free trade area makes us poorer”
Its a good argument. Shame that a lot of the people who are pro-EU are anti-free trade and unlikely to be that keen on either admitting it, or pushing the idea. Whereas pretty much all the Leavers are very much in favour of free trade,especially with everyone, not just other European countries.
SJW. Which free trade area do you mean?
Or perhaps you mean the EU where you are free to trade with businesses in all the other countries provided you sign the million page, printed in very small type, terms and conditions, (which are subject to change, including retroactive change, without notice). and you also have to pay a very large entry fee.
Let’s not forget WW3.
(Of course, Germany has a new reason for avoiding a repeat: France has the manpower, and the attitude to win. It would all be over by Christmas).
SJW is right. All the useful EU regulations are imposing common standards so as to eliminate non-tariff barriers and thereby permit free trade.
As if rules about the curvature of bananas helps eliminate non-tariff barriers.
@John77, and yet there’s how many types of electrical plugs for consumer electricals across the EU?
john77,
We won’t be giving up our right to agree to, and/or impose common standards.
Besides, there’s a large degree of standardisation across the world these days. A better question might be:
– How many of these standards are agreed globally rather than within the EU?
– How many can be removed as irrelevant? (In that they apply inappropriately to domestic-only goods and services)
Osborne is saying what he would have to do to balance his budget if he couldn’t keep borrowing money from foreigners to pay for the welfare state. For the last six years he’s been talking austerity and delivering massive budget deficits with the reckoning put off a little further every year thanks to foreigners lending him money. Brexit destroys his credibility: they stop lending to him: he has to put up taxes. Just shows that he couldn’t afford his tax cuts in the first place [50% to 45% was probably justified by increasing actual take due to the Laffer curve and the poor shouldn’t be paying income tax but all his sound-bite giveaways were PR at our grandchildren’s expense]
For those who can read I did write “useful”
When only 13% of your trade is with the “Free Trade Area”…
You’re mistaken. About 44% of UK exports are to the EU, and about 53% of imports are from it.
“Joxit”, fantastic I’m using that
Sorry, my mistake, it’s 13% of GDP.
Paul,
Serious questions:
Does your first number include that go outside the EU via Rotterdam?
Does your 2nd number allow for the inpact of EU tariffs making EU goods cheaper?
BiND: I took the numbers from the Pink Book
I happened to be in Ashford today and decided I was going to try and crash their rally in the hope of
a) calling Osborne a liar
b) Meeting Laura Kuengsberg
No rozzers, no cameras, in fact no one knew what the hell I was talking about when I asked in the shops.
Bastards were in the HS1 train sheds safely away from public scrutiny.
We don’t have to leave. Just repeal those bits of eu law we don’t like. At some point they will come begging. Probably when Putin appears marching through Paris.
As if rules about the curvature of bananas helps eliminate non-tariff barriers
You mean the rules made up by Boris Johnson?
“Sorry, my mistake, it’s 13% of GDP”
Surely this is the important number anyway. There’s no reason for UK domestic trade to be subject to EU rules, just our exports.
@SJW, in what way was Boris involved in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2257/94?
Or there’s Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1677/88 which defines the permitted bend in various classes of cucumber.
Ah, you’ve read the banana regulation. Then you’ll know that it imposes no significant rules on curvature.
Bloke no Longer in Austria
I like your motivation on meeting Laura Kuenssberg. I’ve always wondered what a blowjob from her would be like given the way she tilts her mouth.
As a jock this don’t affect me, but if we voted leave, it would not be beyond the spitefulness of your Frog, to boot any of a remaining England, Wales or Norn Iron out of Euro 2016 tourney?
@SJW: there’s no reason for the EU to impose rules about “defects in shape” of bananas at all, regardless of how “significant” they are.
“Are you saying you don’t approve of what our elected leaders decide we should do?”
Yes that is exactly what many Remainers do believe.
I have had this very conversation with many many leftie acquaintances; the people won’t agree with them or vote things the way they want, so they’re perfectly happy to invoke the EU to over-ride our democracy. They are quite shameless about it.
I have idea what they’d do or say if the EU started doing things they don’t approve of; I have asked the question many times but the result is a lot of hand-waving, followed by a tirade of guff about Osborne, evil Tories, cuts, austerity, yadda yadda.
Am I reading this right? Brexiters say that decision-making should rest with elected leaders? Good-o, let’s cancel the referendum.
MattyJ: it’s a standard for classes of bananas. So that one can trade the things across the EU without having to address a different classification in each country.
@SMFS: The solution to your marmalade problem is to make your own. It doesn’t take long, the recipes are simple and the results can be amazing. A few hours at most gives you a dozen jars of breakfast pleasure and ideal Christmas presents for elderly aunts.
Osborne is still a prat.
SJW–There should be NO regulations about bananas. And elections where the choice is shit or shite don’t cut it any more.
At least with all the EU regulations, when we import beef from the continent it’s beef and not horsemeat, and when we import Champagne it’s French wine and not Austrian anti-freeze.
(Well at least the paperwork will be correct.)
What in the name of fuck does there have to be classes of bananas defined by bureaucrats?
The EU now mostly exist to increase its already bloated bureaucracy.
The fact that the parliament has to change venues between Bruxelles and Strasbourg, at vast expense and all the while berating the sheeple about waste and pollution, should have been reason enough to leave years ago.
SJW – but as long as we are in the fucking EU decisions will not be made by elected leaders?
THe EU has no properly elected leaders and no meaningful acountability to its Demos (to the extent there is a demos).
Now you being a lefty couldn’t give a shit, but to me it is of fundamental importance.
SJW, did you mean this bit?
Minimum requirements
In all classes, subject to the special provisions for each class and the tolerances allowed, the bananas must be:
– green and unripened,
– intact,
– firm,
– sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded,
– clean, practically free from visible foreign matter,
– practically free from pests,
– practically free from damage caused by pests,
– with the stalk intact, without bending, fungal damage or dessication,
@SJW: I understand what it is, I just disagree that we need the government (any government, UK or EU) to tell us what banana is.
Tesco, et al. are perfectly capable of informing their suppliers about what they require in a banana.
That’s talking about damage, not curvature. The rule on curvature, somehow missing from your extract, says “free from malformation or abnormal curvature of the fingers”.
This sort of regulation is useful – it means that both parties in a transaction know what’s expected without having to write pages of spec.
As I’ve noted before about this. This is the usual industry standards. Which is fine. Great that the wholesalers and the retailers have a short hand for what is a Class 1 banana and a Class II. And this absolutely is just the standard industry classification.
The problem is when someone makes this the law of the land. On two grounds.
1) Why should industry standards be law? I wrote the industry standard for a scandium contract for example. Why should the legislature of 500 million people then make my model contract the law of the land? And what if industry standards change? Who then changes the law to match? One of the points about industry standards being that they can easily be changed to reflect changes in that industry.
2) The industry standard just says that bananas of excessive curvature are not Class 1 for direct sale for human consumption. The law actually bans the sale of not Class 1 for direct human consumption. Actually states that selling off grade bananas (off grade purely on the grounds of curvature) is to be punished by a £5,000 fine and or 6 months in pokey.
At which point they can fuck off of course.
Industry standards as a shorthand for what something is are just fine, they do indeed make the world a better place. Coding them into law is ludicrous idiocy – or an anal bureaucracy insistent that everything must be defined by law but I repeat myself.
This sort of regulation is useful – it means that both parties in a transaction know what’s expected without having to write pages of spec.
Why should both parties be forced into ‘one size fits all’ regulation…?
Were not the straight banana standards based on German consumption of Sth American bananas, which genetically are straight (I think having at least in part been bred that way for the German consumer), whereas bananas in other markets (Caribbean) which did not normally export to Germany, did not have such straight bred bananas. And I’m sure the industry standard Class I for straight bananas did not apply until the German preference became adopted
So the EU regs were based on German consumer preferences and consumers in other countries could effectively fvck off.
Which is as good a reason as any other to tell the EU itself to fuck off, for any doubters.
Fair point Tim, except that Class I bananas are allowed to have “slight defects of shape”, which must mean that they’re allowed to have slightly abnormal curvature. Whatever that means.
I agree that making the standards a matter of law is bonkers. Apparently our friends on the continent think otherwise, and it doesn’t seem that important to me so long as we enforce the rules sensibly.
SFAIK no one has every been prosecuted for selling bendy bananas.
It annoys me when Boris Johnson and others invent some fantastical version of the rules to attack.
“I agree that making the standards a matter of law is bonkers. Apparently our friends on the continent think otherwise, and it doesn’t seem that important to me so long as we enforce the rules sensibly.”
As someone who has been living and working on the continent for some time now it’s exactly and precisely what drives me entirely bonkers. And I consider it to be extremely damaging to the economy in the longer run too. Because if everything is defined by law and you innovate then you’ve got to get the law changed to encompass your innovation, don’t you?
For example, in this law about bendy bananas there’s an exemption for Canary Island bananas (and, I think, Azorean) because they are of a different clone (maybe? cultivar possibly? Or maybe just small and bendy Cavendish (or are we on Gros Michel now, without looking it up can’t recall)) and are naturally highly curved. Now, perhaps those take off as a consumer item. And why not, they’re yummy. So peeps in S America or Uganda start to grow them for import into the EU. But that’s illegal! Because the exemption is only for Canary Islands (Azorean) grown.
And there’s how many cultivars of bananas out there? 50? 100? Without even including plantains etc. How much innovation can you do if you’ve got to get the entire EU to change the law, then all 29 (?) national Parliaments etc.
And, of course, we can’t do the importing to test it because it’s illegal and without testing it how can we know whether it might be a good idea to change the law?
That’s why the EU system is an insanity and that’s why we should leave. Because letting the anal retentives put everything into the law will make us poorer in the long run through the barriers to innovation.
So, fuck ’em, vote Leave.
To give you another example of the regulatory nonsense. So, you’ve got to go and get an environmental licence to build a chemicals plant. Fair enough really. Costs about $10,000 to prepare the docs and takes 10 months if everyone signs off on it the day they get it and allowing for public comments etc.
You’ve also got to do this if you change what you’re making in an extant plant. Again, possibly fair.
But until about 3 years ago making under 100 tonnes a year of something was environmental regulation free. Not free of the general regs of course, but free of the requirement for this full monty of a review. On the very reasonable grounds that you might make a few tonnes of something in an extant plant to test it all out. See if you can make it, how you might make it etc.
Then some cunt in the European Parliament decided that now, even the making of a few kg of something should need that full review. And they do mean anything. For example, working with a tungsten plant (the ones taking wolframite to make ammonium tungstate) and playing around with a few tonnes of their residues to see whether you can take a kg or two of scandium oxide out of said residue. Please line up for your licence and pay $10k. The licence costs more than the experiment.
Fuck ’em, vote Leave.
@ Henry Crun, now read again what you wrote, only imagine Anna Massey is narrating it, pure heaven!
“Minimum requirements
In all classes, subject to the special provisions for each class and the tolerances allowed, the bananas must be:
– green and unripened,
– intact,
– firm,
– sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded,
– clean, practically free from visible foreign matter,
– practically free from pests,
– practically free from damage caused by pests,
– with the stalk intact, without bending, fungal damage or dessication”
There is also the regulation that packages of Class I Brussels Sprouts should contain sprouts that vary in diameter by no more than 20cm. Of course getting out of this regulation just adds to the uncertainty after Brexit.
A 25cm brussel sprout? Surely that’s a cabbage.
Currently winding its way through the EU system is the Audiovisual Media Services directive which seems to be about screwing up the streaming video market. Yay EU!
On a slightly more serious note, Osborne may be doing no more than his job. UK deficit dwarfs Greece, and if markets decide they won’t roll over maturing govt debt than govt must find other funding sources, i.e. tax and cuts.
Obviously I don’t have much of a handle on what the market players are intending, but I’m inclined to think that a bond market investment strike against only UK is long odds.
“Fuck ’em, vote Leave.”
Exactly.
Everything about Brussels has got massively out of proportion including the sprouts¹.
Vote Leave
¹/ Hoticulturalists note- I grow two excellent varieties of sprout called respectively Wellington and Trafalgar.
“On a slightly more serious note, Osborne may be doing no more than his job. UK deficit dwarfs Greece, and if markets decide they won’t roll over maturing govt debt than govt must find other funding sources, i.e. tax and cuts.”
Not sure I understand. Why would a UK outside the EU be less attractive to the bond market than a UK inside the EU?
Mithering about more or less regulation were we In or Out is besides the point.
The point is, Out we can sack the bastards if we don’t like what they’re doing. But In?
Not so much.
Vote leave.
PS. if we vote In, we’ll feel like shit the next day and forever after, like a Scotsman or Quebecois who does dare claim his independence but uses his grievances as a shake-down racket. If we vote out, we might feel a bit nervous, like 18 year olds on a first holiday. But our future will at least be ours, better or worse. And probably better.
“A 25cm brussel sprout? Surely that’s a cabbage.”
My dream sprout
All this talk of sprouts has reminded me of what, as a schoolboy, I was told by my fellows who studied Greek that there was a Greek verb that indicated something like ‘To be punished by having a turnip shoved up your bottom’, but for schoolboy sensitivities (imagined, not real) was translated with an improper modification by altering ‘turnip’ to ‘radish’.
It appears to me that the situation here is that we are being threatened with ‘turnips’ by Leave when at most ‘radishes’ are an aspect of the menu for some as the potential short-term downsides of Brexit.
“Leaving will cost £30bn”!!!!
Yes, but leaving will save up £10bn/yr nett that we’d otherwise pay to the EU, so three years to balance, then a surplus. I was financially down on my uppers for a few years after getting divorced as well, then things got better.
And there’s how many cultivars of bananas out there? 50? 100? Without even including plantains etc. How much innovation can you do if you’ve got to get the entire EU to change the law, then all 29 (?) national Parliaments etc.
EU regulations don’t have to be referred to national parliaments: they take legal effect automatically. In the UK through the European Community Act.
That’s the loss of sovereignty UKIP complains about (though its MEPs get to vote on the regulations if they can be bothered).