It's a damn sight easier to control a couple of hundred people getting on a plane, who cant do anything until the plane touches down, than it is to control the movement of goods and people accross an "open" borer between N. Ireland and Eire.
It's been pointed out many, many times just how rife "smuggling" was back in the day, especially in the border towns.
The old favourites of petrol and tobacco were bought and sold accross the border (in both directions) and the Irish (both halves) do love the old "cash transactions" and this is when the transfer of goods is open.

With respect you are missing my point, a problem with a border issue was identified and was resolved. Many ideas/solutions have been proposed to solve the Irish border problem. Unfortunately Varadkar is taking instructions from the EU bureaucrats, so is not offering any sensible ideas. Various reports have indicated the Irish beef industry will be hard hit with a hard Brexit, potentially large scale bankruptcy. I can fully understand the growing resentment in Eire that they didn’t create this situation but Varadkar and his puppet masters in Brussels need to realise time is ticking away.
Strange that people forget that before the EU customs union we traded successfully with Europe. We also trade successfully with the USA and the Far East, without the structure of a customs union.

We could trade "successfully" under WTO terms but, this may be at a lower level and it would also have certain inflationary pressures.
We also traded with a hard border in Northern Ireland but, I'm not sure that too many want to go back to those times.

The worst government lead by the worst prime minister this country has ever had is trying to win an argument, mainly within the Tories themselves, rather than negotiate the best deal we can.

It's laughable that people from within that group are saying the E.U. members are being awkward. A deal was negotiated and agreed. The situation now is that we either accept the deal, reject it and leave without one or, forget the whole thing and remain a member.

Its nothing to do with the E.U. It's entirely down to parliament unfortunately.

The world has changed. For example, since 1973 the ratio of trade to economic output has increased from 48% to 67%.

Out of interest, which alternative arrangement(s) do you think May should propose to the EU?

As I pointed out earlier on, people are often motivated by values as much or more than they are by economic self interest. That played a role in delivering Brexit. Looking at the links Cronus posted, it seems that Irish public opinion is at least as important as EU influence. If project fear didn’t work here, why would it work there? Given the history, i struggle to imagine much appetite there for caving in to self-entitled English pantomime villains like JRM, Boris Johnson and IDS. They don’t have the learned deference to our gormer toffs that afflicts some many English people.

If Ireland and US can do it then for god sake you would have thought they could work it out with the near neighbours. In my opinion you are absolutely right re Ireland dancing to the EU's tune, ive said before why on earth can Ireland and Uk get their heads together as so sovereign nations and put it to the EU.

Both halves of Ireland are happy with how things are (in terms of the border). Unfortunately, the DUP, who are propping up Mrs May, have their own ideas and despite being the only part of the UK that has a physical border with the EU (Eire), dont want to be "different" from the rest of the UK, which is impossible.

yep they are, the problem with then DUP was the border issue and they would have ended up with a closer relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK.

I agree we do need to keep the status Quo as much as possible, I was listening to a guy on tv he was saying that the Nationalists feel part of Irish Republic because of the lack of a border, just as the Loyalists (DUP) don't want any border that would make them feel detached from the UK which must be maintained for both sides

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-47102708 Cannot wait to get back to Sunderland I said when the racist mackems all voted to leave the EU it would put Nissan at risk. Over 30,000 jobs depend on Sunderland Nissan. Well they can now say we control our own borders but we will soon have no proper jobs. Chickens coming home to roost. Whoop whoop

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-47102708 Cannot wait to get back to Sunderland I said when the racist mackems all voted to leave the EU it would put Nissan at risk. Over 30,000 jobs depend on Sunderland Nissan. Well they can now say we control our own borders but we will soon have no proper jobs. Chickens coming home to roost. Whoop whoop

Yep, if it comes to pass I'll be quietly amused, if any of the Brexit gang deserved a bit of Karma it's that lot.

I'm not sure that people who voted to leave can be blamed for this as nothing has happened yet we've not left, what I will say is that it could be the uncertainty created by the muppets in the commons is more to blame for the possibility that this investment might not happen. It would be a shame if this is pulled and jobs are lost very sad. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

WHY ????

WHEN Britain voted to leave the UK the EUhad a 10 %tax on Japanese made cars going into Europe Nissan and Honda etc built plants here so they could avoid that tax.

18 months ago the EU signed a free trade agreement with Japan which ended the 10% tax.

The net result is that 10% margin is now no longer important to Nissan. the uncertainty and problems now with the supply lines means that other than selling cars in the UK Nissan and Honda etcc are as well building them in another EU country or even keeping the jobs in Japan and then shipping them over.

I see what your saying, that they may now have to pay import charges into this country (say 10%) which the no longer have to pay in the EU, ok I get it. But, and I may be totally missing the point here. The article points to the recent drop in sales of the Diesel cars, if they now decide to put petrol engines in they are not sure it would be financially viable to ship the engines over from Japan. I know they got some kind of assurances from the govt over Brexit 2016 (what ever that was, surely discussions are to be had). But the only person in the article saying that Brexit is partly to blame is a Labour MP.

Whatever. There's about as much chance of you walking into a pub in Sunderland and gobbing off to a load of Mackems as there is of Diane Abbott passing GCSE Maths. Let me know when you've done it, I'll start a GoFundMe for your dentist bill. Actually, from the glee you've displayed I've changed my mind, you probably deserve it. Go and tell them Mackems lad, with my best wishes.



Fact is, the crash in diesel demand is having a massive impact on most car manufacturers and their strategies. I could have told you this from my days dealing with Volkswagen via Bentley. I have no doubt Brexit is also being considered but there appears to be no threat to existing jobs in Sunderland.

I think the SNP, Plaid Cymru, SNP & Green Party (4-5 times more MPs than Libs) might disagree.

Are you really suggesting that Nissans decision to pull the X-Trail isn't a direct consequence of the Brexit debacle?

Of course, it's definitely a factor, which is what I alluded to. Uncertainty is not great in business. But if diesel sales hadn't been in a steep decline as they have been since a high around 2010/11 (down over 10% in Europe I believe), then perhaps this decision wouldn't have been reached.

But let's be clear, this isn't Nissan pulling out of Sunderland because of Brexit. It's Nissan taking a look at sales trends, their supply & distribution model, Brexit uncertainty and market projections, and deciding it's more cost-effective and probably makes sense right now to build the X-Trail in Japan.

A year or two ago I had to swap company car twice (leased as my fleet car hadn't come in yet) because the car hire company were selling off their diesel stock and no longer offering diesel cars. Eventually I was given a brand new petrol Mini Cooper

a belting car but not ideal with a family (I'm no longer working there, the car fiasco was one of a few issues). The company was Thrifty, part of Hertz. I have no idea whether Hertz are ditching diesel and vans are probably still diesel, but Thrifty were definitely getting rid of their diesel car stock. A sign of the times.

The crash in sales of diesel cars is well documented, no doubt.
However, having had government assurances that trading conditions post Brexit would be "no worse", which did seem a little optimistic, can you honestly look in the mirror and tell yourself that Brexit played ABSOLUTELY no part in their choice of where to produce the new model, even though their head guy threw Brexit into the mix as to why they had made the change.
Do you think he was paid by project fear, just to mention it ow, was it just something to say.

Some businesses are getting nervous about what lays ahead and we all rely on stability and "certainty" to make forward plans. This goes for Joe public buying a new 3 piece suite or, multinational companies deciding on their next round of investment.
If it was your money (or mine) would you rally be putting you gambling chips on the UK ??, you dont have to answer this one as you may put some of your own Brexit argument out of the window.
By the way, the EU is in a similar position on this as the uncertainty doesnt help them either. Although, if the products that you manufactures were mainly for sale in the EU27, the other side of" la manche" seems a safer option.

Both the EU and UK are hovering above the line in terms of being close to recession and as I pointed out many months ago, the timing of all this, following the deepest recession in almost a century was both ill thought out and reckless. However, as we see from our politician, personal issues seem to be way higher up the list of priorities than the prosperity of The UK.

If May's next statement, which iirc is due next week, indicates she is to continue to pursue a deal by reaching an accommodation with the ERG, I think it will be time for some low key no-deal personal prepping. Bit of extra tinned food and the like.

It would be amusing if it weren't so tragic, to see the Brexiteers desperately claiming that each new example of capital flight has nothing to do with Brexit - the list of companies continues to grow, and the list of gobe experts spinning it into something else grows in tandem, with Boris Johnson and JRM recently on record as knowing more about the operation of particular businesses than the people actually running them. It's madness.

Meanwhile, I've just been to the chemist for some meds that I take regularly, to be told that they're not available at the moment; supply chain disruption due to Brexit. Yay - take back control, but not of managing your own chronic symptoms.

I refer the honourable member for Wakefield to my reply above.

supply chain disruptions? I very much doubt it.

Yeah - the pharmacist is a reyt lying basterd; it's project fear innit.

so, we haven't left the EU yet, what "supply chain" issues are there?