…..and the merits of women in politics and all that:
The fisheries minister has raised eyebrows by disclosing she was busy organising a nativity trail on Christmas Eve when the Brexit deal was agreed, and didn’t read its fine print on fish.
Victoria Prentis insisted that the agreement was beneficial for UK boats when she appeared before the Lords EU Environment Sub-Committee on Wednesday, but conceded some quarters of the fishing industry had been hard done by.
It’s just that having been there and done that, politics, the idea that anyone at all who voted either way on the law actually read it is too silly an idea to entertain even for a minute.
That the people who wrote it read it is a bit of a stretch……
So who does read the things? Do the civil servants read it and report yes/no to the politicians? Do the spads do that job? Or does the politician just stick a finger in the air and feel which way the wind is blowing?
@AndrewM: and then vote the way it’s not blowing?
the Nancy Pelosi method – ‘we have to pass the bill to find out what it does’.
I think it shows that her priorities are about right ( no chance of reading that tome of legislation so do something for the kids instead.
Personally, if Nigel and the ERG are mostly happy with the deal then so am I.
Most fishermen win, some lose. A net gain.
So what if the agreement gives the EU more than they deserve? It will take a couple of years to beef up the fisheries protection fleet. If the EU tries any funny business on another front, then we can denounce the deal and bar them from UK waters, citing the preservation of stocks, anti-extinction of cod, or something. Good international PR and a nice card to have that we can choose to play at any time.
It’s bad, but not nearly as bad as the USian system. The latest bailout bill runs to over 5,000 pages. No congressman read it, nor any of their staffs. Nor would it have possible to do so in the time available. Like all US legislation, it was put together by lobbyists horsetrading with each other.
For comparison, The Government of India Act 1937, then the longest piece of legislation in British history, ran to 357 pages.
Most fishermen win, some lose. A net gain.
The whole deal is up for review every 5 years and there’s a specific emphasis on fishing. There was no point grabbing it all back, we haven’t go the fleet, yet.
https://order-order.com/2021/01/14/eu-state-analysis-eu-fishing-losses-are-uks-gains/
Bah! If you want to see how bad a legislature can be read Steyn.
https://www.steynonline.com/10919/potemkin-parliament-pseudo-legislature