So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

at

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Finally.

This afternoon.

Via RTÉ News:

Negotiations on finalising a Brexit trade deal are completed, with European European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen describing the agreement as fair, balanced and right.

Making a statement after negotiations were completed, she said with so much at stake it was a deal worth fighting for.

“Deal is done,” a Downing Street source said. “We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters.”

“The deal is fantastic news for families and businesses in every part of the UK. We have signed the first free trade agreement based on zero tariffs and zero quotas that has ever been achieved with the EU.”

Fair and balanced Brexit deal reached – von der Leyen (RTÉ)

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43 thoughts on “So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish”

    1. ce

      Pretty small in terms of overall economies. Most UK fish is sold into the EU, they don’t actually eat a lot beyond cod. In Ireland, similarly small industry but important to the people living in fishing communities, they’re the sacrificial victims again.

      All a waste of everybody’s time and energy – ordinary folk (granted than might be a little tricky to define) in Ireland, UK, and EU all loose… well played everybody

    3. Charger Salmons

      Fish was only ever a sideshow.
      Of much more importance to the UK, apart from regaining control of money,borders and law, is regulatory divergence specifically in rapidly-expending areas of science such as artificial intelligence.
      And the final deal is many miles away from the original EU demands that Theresa May was prepared to swallow.
      This is a deal that leaves both sides happy and Ireland dodges an economic bullet.
      This country should be grateful for the tenacity of Boris Johnson – the EU only realised very late in the day that he was serious about walking away with No Deal – and learn that if you don’t stand up to the EU it will walk all over you.
      I also expect talks on a UK-US trade deal to step up a gear when Biden is sworn in.

      1. Charger Salmons

        Interestingly the people most kicking up a fuss on social media appear to be Remoaners.
        Most Brexiteers seem perfectly happy that Boris has massively increased fish quotas for the UK, kicked out the ECJ, got back control over the UK’s borders, kept trade flowing and retained access to the single market.
        And all without an extension.
        Then, of course, there were the experts on here who said Britain would never get a trade deal and if they did it would take 10 years.

        Heh x Merry Brexmas to all my loyal readers.

        1. ReproBertie

          Great that a deal was done. It was the only sensible option for the UK. It’ll be interesting to see the detail and there’s not a lot more worth saying until then.

        1. Haroo

          Think it is a great deal. Well done Barnier and Von Der Leyen. Secured all our key requirements and goals and some more.

          European industries protected. Access to London. Level playing field assured and limited/no divergence in key areas (and more). Enforcement mechanism (don’t care what it is called: ECJ or independent aribitration, who cares, name it what you like. Will still enforce alignment and commitments). Remember: there is no customs border in the Irish Sea (why the need of the Internal Market Bill?). Act 2: We have control and do not have to follow alignment. There is no chance of losing access.

          Think it showed Boris could not bluster the EU. EU unity remained impressively firm. Macron and Merkel backed Von Der Leyen. Suprised at what Boris agreed to but then again he knew he needed the deal and the EU did too.

          All round great outcome for the EU. UK should be pretty happy too given the choice.

          1. ce

            Nobody wins, it was a waste of everybody’s time and energy – so many other things to organise in the world even before Covid.

            At best one or other side side can claim a slightly better effort at damage limitation.

            I wouldn’t totally agree with f_lawless later comment but there is an element of that – how many workers and business owners etc had sleepless nights over this nonsense.

            Feel free to argue about whose fault it was for taking 4-years (+ the referendum build up and campaign) – but what exactly did anybody expect would happen beyond protracted nonsense. To coin a new phrase Omni-Phyrhric – well done ex Pig Poking PM, you destabilised North Africa and Europe… well played

            Time to open the booze!!! Happy Christmas all

      4. Formerly known as @ireland.com

        “part from regaining control of money,borders and law” — The Brits get an extra border between Britain and the part of Ireland they still occupy. Great job!

    4. Otis Blue

      55% of England’s current EU fishing quota is in the hands of vessels owned by companies based in Iceland, Spain and the Netherlands, having been sold by English fishermen. In contrast 4% of the Scottish quota is in foreign ownership.

      So who owns the quota? Despite what the political rhetoric might have you believe, it’s rarely the small operator. More than a quarter of the UK’s fishing quota is in the hands of a small group of the country’s wealthiest families, with just 5 families on the Sunday Times Rich List holding or controling 29% of the UK’s fishing quota. This data comes from a Greenpeace Unearthed investigation that traced the owners of more than 95% of UK quota holdings – including, for the first time, those of Scotland, the UK’s biggest fishing nation. It revealed that more than two-thirds of the UK’s fishing quota is controlled by just 25 businesses. In England nearly 80% of fishing quota is held by foreign owners or domestic Rich List families, and more than half of Northern Ireland’s quota is hoarded onto a single trawler.

      Read on https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/10/11/fishing-quota-uk-defra-michael-gove/

    1. Rosette of Sirius

      I know, right?!. Pretty much May’s deal from way back and a few extra pilchards. Mostly fished and landed by EU owned boats at EU ports… What utter madness this has been. Tell you what, Barnier worth every penny his fat cat EU pension will see him off with now.

  5. Kim The Cardassian

    I hope they directly reference Amazon Prime in the text so I know whether to cancel or not

    1. Rosette of Sirius

      There’s always Amazon.de/ffr/it/es and set your Prime Video settings to Ireland or UK… Tip tip. Simply setting your Prime Video settings to UK gets you access to their live sport offerings.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        No free shipping from those though. I’ve already cancelled my Prime subscription. There may be a trade agreement, but as far as I’m aware that refers to customs duties – not VAT. To get around it, Amazon will do some fulfillment from Europe, but some UK suppliers won’t store in Europe. If you buy from them, then you’ll have to add VAT.
        And there will still have to be customs entries made. The new AIS system as it stands means that a customs entry will have to be made for each delivery (shipment). That’ll cost too.

        1. Rosette of Sirius

          But if you buy Prime from DE? and of course there’s a vat difference… Also, more often than not, weak sterling aside, amazon in the EU is cheaper for lots of stuff than the UK. But them the main thrust of my point is that Prime can be played with to your advantage…

          1. GiggidyGoo

            No free shipping from DE to IE, even for Prime. I bought off it two months ago.
            But if some UK sellers aren’t prepared to ship into a fulfillment centre in Europe, then that cuts down the choice a little. A customs entry with the courier companies will cost €5 upwards i’d reckon. That’s just Amazon. Ebay, with its Global Shipping Programme via Pitney Bowes will truly rip off customers.

  7. f_lawless

    Interesting take here from Craig Murray:
    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/12/the-fake-political-and-media-class/

    “What I want to discuss with you is not the agreement itself, nor the process of reaching it, but the quite extraordinary fact that a deal which was always going to be made, was the subject of pretend cliffhanger drama and tension by the entire professional media and the entire professional political class, both government and opposition, not just in the UK but right across Europe and on other continents as well.

    Sane, sober and alone, any serious professional political journalist knew that this deal would be made and broadly what it would look like. So did Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Bill Cash and Nigel Farage. Yet absolutely everyone has been pumping out this false narrative of cliff-hanging tension, as have the national ministers of EU states in the EU Council and the Members of the European Parliament.

    Why? I think this really is quite a profound question. And I think the answer is that the professional media and political class – the latter an ever burgeoning number, battening on to the body politic at our ever increasing expense – have become simply a form of entertainment. High politics is no more than a form of reality TV, where both those taking part and those reporting on it know that dramas and crescendos have to be manufactured to keep the plebs interested and keep the golden goose laying. The politicians and the political journalists have a joint interest in putting on a show over artificial crises. The worrying thing is, they manage to convince themselves, at least some of the time, to their own professional gain, that the version they are promulgating of what is happening, is reality.”

    2. Cú Chulainn

      Craig needs to reacquaint himself with the original House of Cards.. high drama because any sensible approach would have people asking questions about how the country had come to this sorry point. A couple of days of a shut border with France and the reality of brexit focused the British mind. I don’t the agreement can be seen as anything other than a total capitulation by the brits/twits.. an act of self harm on a scale never before seen on this planet. The ever so slow strangulation of Britain commences.. and they are so profoundly stupid they can’t see it and by the time someone works it out it’s going to be too late.. ah well, what they were happy to do to others they are now doing to themselves..

  10. JimmyRussell

    Brexit was RACIST a bigoted hate mob along with Russian hackers hijacked democracy away from the people, we need a second referendum so the people can have their say.

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