Signs of the split in Government.....Philip Hammond openly promoting the idea of a transitional period...will he be slapped down by Number 10 or John Redwood?

More summation guessing the governments next step.

More likely he was the sacrificial lamb. It was an official statement at the hearing and it would have seemed like a total climb down coming from one of the Brexiters or Theresa May. At least people will expect Hammond to say this and no doubt he will castigated.

He can hope for what ever he wants.
Its up to the EU to grant us whatever they want once we trigger A50.

If there wasn't going to be a transition period then the Brexit negotiations could be donne and dusted in a few months because they would only concern the process of leaving, ie divvying up assets, agreeing ongoing contributions for things like pension payments, relocating of some EU staff from the UK.................

The 'leaving' negotiations sre very straightforward

This is what Euro people are referring to when they say tings like 'it should be done in 18 months' like the guy did a few weeks ago

They are talking about negotiations for us to leave

We are always taking about putting something in place 'after' we leave

the two things are not the same but the obfuscation and terrible news spinning here makes it appear that they are

Hard Brextiers like Gove just want us to leave .............six months ? ..............and sort out the future relationship with the EU and the rest of world 'after' we leave, ie from a position of being outside the EU

Soft Brexiters want to sort out the future relationship before we leave ..........so probably many years of negotiations .............and they see a transitional agreement as essential to bridge a gap between leaving and the conclusion of negotiations on the new relationship. The assumption being that we will still have an 'intiminate' relationship with the EU or what is there to negotiate ?

Therefore anytime anyone mentions transitional arrangements they're signifying 'soft Brexit'

May did this with her speech on avoiding the cliff edge

Hammond does it all the time

Boris vacillates between one and the other ................a cynic might suggest that he doesn't want to alienate either wing

Davies, I think, is a quick exit man as is Gove. I think Fox probably is as well

there's the dividing lines for the next round of Tory in-fighting over Europe

Brexit is a turd, no matter how you dress it up it's still a turd.

Thread is wrongly titled as "Brexit Chancellor ...".
He's a remainer, and is doing his best to undermine the government whilst trying to keep his job.
Maybe he should be called a tightrope walker.

And thank god there is one sane mind in the cabinet. And one May can't afford to lose.

Peter Lilley thinks he's referring to a period whilst all the customs forms are re-designed. How did these empty-heads ever find their way into Parliament? To quote Basil Fawlty - I've seen more intelligent beings on their backs on the bottom of ponds.

Well said..
And a good summary of the current situation.

A50 is the process, and procedure to leave the EU. To withdrawal or exit from the EU treaties, and the A50 negotiations are regarding tidying up the loose ends, of that exit.

The post A50 relationship between the EU and UK, is somewhat different and will take a number of years negotiation, hence the need for what is called a "transitional agreement and period.

Except it isn't. It's titled "Brexit: Chancellor..."

Quite a difference....

There's a good article over at the Guardian, the tl;dr version is that Brexit voters will ultimately be betrayed. The only question is who they will blame.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...sa-may-promise


EDIT
And here is Peter Lilley to scupper the idea of a transitional deal

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nsitional-deal
Last edited by Miasima Goria : 13-12-2016 at 10:51

Ah, that must be what "take back control" was all about....


Of course some will feel "betrayed" and there will be a significant minority of Faragites who won't accept anything which looks like a compromise but the reality is that a deal needs to be done which will give us the best possible outcome. If May & Co can pull off a settlement which satisfies enough of the 48% and 52% then it really doesn't matter what the hardcore leavers think. They can huff and puff and the next election but they would just look more and more like a lunatic fringe.

He didn't back anything he said that it may be "generally useful" in response to Peers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38297595

They may look like a lunatic fringe, as you put it, but they have votes and are likely to use them to vote for UKIP if they have been betrayed.
This will put the Tories at risk of losing their overall majority and ending up back in a coalition, which they certainly don't want.
And, it could even put Corbyn into No. 10.

Tories need a clean out of their extremists and to get back to One Nation Conservatism

At the rate things are going we won't even have officially told them we are leaving by 2018.

Of course they don't 'want' it but with the country as divided as it is and at an incredibly crucial moment in our (and the worlds) history it just might be the right time to build some new kind of 'consensus' to forge our way ahead.

What would Eurosceptic Tories and Kippers have to gain from Corbyn in Number 10?

If May delivers a soft-ish exit and the economy remains stable until 2020 then I can't see many Tories wanting to rock the boat and UKIP could be a small fringe party by then.

Judging by what Kier Starmer is saying at the moment, May need not worry about the 48%. With each passing day a deal seems harder - unless the EU gives way on FoM.

The EU is a turd, no matter how you dress it up it's still a turd

Its a shiny turd, polished by many, less than fully packaged forum members.

They won't do that in a million years. There is no negotiations to be had apart from "Who gets that filing cabinet and those paper clips?" and "Please don't slam the door on the way out."

It was put to Hammond....


Hammond gave a lengthy response.


The chairman of the select committee put to Hammond that the answer is 'yes', to which Hammond replied, 'you could say that, yes'.

As far as I am aware Hammond so far hasn't had a slap on the wrist from Number 10.

The problem with talking about transitional arrangements which are easy enough to come up with such as remain in the EEA, is what is the arrangement the government wishes to get to? In other words what is it going into the exit negotiations as its end game as a transitional arrangement is only a stepping stone to that.

All this talk of negotiations and accumulation of data over Article 50 can only mean their is one aim, soft Brexit.

As for the exit ministers I think David Davies quickly discovered what he wrote just days before becoming a Minister is impossible to implement. Although he still comes out with fantasies which Number 10 promptly slaps down.

I suspect Liam Fox remains hardline and wants all ties cut, look what he said about British businesses to see the nature of the man.

As for Boris Johnson, he can string two words together but has been exposed as a bluffer, who can't be taken at face value.