Brexit secretary David Davis has made a major speech in Vienna today.
After pleasantries, he agreed that since the referendum, much thought, throughout Europe, had gone into what Britain’s relationship with the European Union really meant and whether Britain was going to be the same country it had been in the past – dependable, open, fair, a bastion of Parliamentary democracy and a defender of liberty, and the rule of law.
“Well, to cut to the chase — we are,” he said. “We were before we joined the European Union, we are while we are members, and we will be after we have left.”
He told his audience that he would explain not just why the UK and EU must continue to work together as the closest of partners and friends, but also how this should be done.
He declared that rather than the UK being on a ‘race to the bottom’, as some had suggested, we are on a ‘race to the top’ and added that we will adhere to the principle of fair competition.
He spoke of the referendum. “It was a straightforward choice: a decision to move away from pooled sovereignty in favour of more control of our own destiny,” he said, adding that the choices about Britain’s future are taken by Britain’s parliament, directly accountable to the British people, not to undermine Europe
He quoted French president Emmanuel Macron: “If we do not define a standard for international cooperation, we will never manage to convince the middle and working classes, that globalization is good for them,” and said he ‘could not agree more’.
He spoke of the innovations in technology, particularly driverless vehicles and drones and said these must be the subject of aviation safety. The government would be addressing this.
He spoke of battling climate change with international collaboration, such as the Paris Climate Agreement, and added that the UK has high standards in many fields, including protecting shoppers from shoddy goods, ensuring patients are safe and have access to the best public health protection and holding businesses to high standards. “We will continue our track record of meeting high standards, after we leave the European Union,” he said.
He spoke about his desire for ongoing trade with the EU. “The future trade talks will be a negotiation like no other,” he said. “We start from a position of total alignment, with unprecedented experience in working with one another’s regulators and institutions. The agreement we strike will not be about how to build convergence, but what we do when one of us chooses to make changes to our rules. Neither side should put up unnecessary barriers during this process.”
He said this would be in the interest of both sides “and because of that, I am certain that we can get this right, but of course, it will not be easy.”
He mention three principles which would illustrate the concept of fairness. “First, fair competition means that it cannot be right that a company situated in the European Union would be able to be heavily subsidised by the state but still have unfettered access to the United Kingdom market. And vice versa.
“Second, fairness means protecting consumers against anti-competitive behaviour, and third, fairness means operating with a degree of mutual respect, respect in our desire to reach a deal that recognises the distinct legal order of each side and in our determination to carry out the sovereign decision of the British people.”
Concluding, Mr Davis said he recognised that there would be a change in the way companies do business, but these goals would not change the kind of country Britain is.
Read the full speech here
‘He spoke of battling climate change …’
Oh dear! By the way – how is the German National Grid?
http://notrickszone.com/2017/10/25/engineering-professor-believes-german-energiewende-close-to-death-as-inadequacies-become-glaring/#sthash.xRYWZg1c.dpbs
And how many coal-fired power stations has Germany built in recent years? I don’t think Britain has built one.
Germany, Sweden and Poland have all been building coal-fired stations — so much for Green Policies!
Ah, but you are forgetting that they’re being built with the intention of using carbon (dioxide) capture and storage, so even though they are not Green they will be. Honest. Eventually. When some genius manages to get CCS to work economically. Which is doesn’t. But it will, if we double the price of electricity to pay for it. Which Germany etc will do, honestly, even if it closes down all of their energy-intensive industry like manufacturing.
Of course if they used UK natural gas from the huge shale gas deposits in the UK’s North and Midlands then their output would fall anyway.
Is it just me or has the world gone mad?
JF
CCS could be made to work, but not by storing CO2, for which there is insufficient storage capacity.
What you would need to do is:
1. Grow trees.
2. Chop them down and turn them into charcoal.
3. Bury the charcoal.
Carbon can exist underground for many millions of years – it is called “coal”!
At the height of the Carboniferous era, some 300 million years ago, the trees had evolved but not the white rot fungus to break down lignin.
At the current time plants are starving. Their food is CO2. Commercial greenhouses boost the CO2 to typically 2000 PPM, i.e. five times the current atmospheric percentage, and it results in far quicker plant growth and larger crops. People work in those greenhouses and are able to cope with that CO2 concentration. The HSE limit for an 8 hour shift is 5000 PPM.
Conversely, if atmospheric CO2 were reduced to that of pre-industrialisation levels, then millions of people would starve, as crop yields around the world would collapse.
Sounds like a speech to stick with NWO globalisation and pretend to leave the EU –
Don’t forget that May has already said, at the conclusion of the Phase 1 capitulations …. errr I mean negotiations, that in the event of “No Deal” the UK will stay in “Full Alignment” with the EU.
So, logically, we will NEVER Leave, whatever the outcome of “negotiations”. The deed is already done.
I do hope Gerard will address this issue with the utmost urgency and publicity. UKIP are the only Party which will question May’s stitch-up. “Full Alignment” is unacceptable and being said without any caveats nor conditions is betraying Brexit and Britain!
David Davis is all talk and no action.
He is a classic example of someone who loves to waffle without actually saying anything.
it has been simply awful over the past year or however long listening, watching and reading about Theresa May and David Davis screwing up the negotiation.
Like in a dream, shouting at someone in danger, but making no noise.
And to think I was generous enough to give him two stars, I need my bumps feeling..
“More control”? Only “more”?
My thought entirely Simon.
Absolutely.
‘move away from pooled sovereignty in favour of more control of our own destiny,”
He must be kidding.
Total sovereignty was the issue in Brexit – not just a half way house.
This shows the thinking of the May mis-government and it ain’t pretty.
Looks to me as if this same governmnent and Davis not least, is pledging to the EU that Britain will do nothing to forward its interests financially, economicly or socially that could in any way disadvantage the EU.
Forget it Davis.
UKIP should be issuing a statement backing Britain – first and foremost.
That British interests will come first and that if Europe wants our trade and co-operation it earns them.
Not have them handed on a platter – at the expense of this country and its people – as it seems Sharia May and her colleagues in treason intend.
The bit I don’t like is “will not change the kind of country is” for one issue the rape/abuse tally in rotherham has increase, tip of the iceberg,
courtesy of the .lab/lib/con coalition party.
Trust none.
Davis has completely lost the plot. Another who we cannot trust.
Looks that way to me too.
The announcement that the Remain campaign is being stepped up for six weeks before the withdrawal vote seems a waste of money. However we should be countering it with visible UKIP signs and members wherever they congregate. My garage holds the gear I used for leave and grassroots out.
Back into action friends, we are older and bolder.
So, still not a clue how you are going to deliver Brexit Mr Davis.
All this wasted energy and time when at the end of the day you will have to either walk away (WTO rules) or remain in the EU in all but name.
But don’t forget Jake, that May has already said, at the conclusion of the Phase 1 capitulations …. errr I mean negotiations, that in the event of “No Deal” the UK will stay in “Full Alignment” with the EU.
So, logically, we will NEVER Leave, whatever the outcome of “negotiations”. The deed is already done.
I do hope Gerard will address this issue with the utmost urgency and publicity. UKIP are the only Party which will question May’s stitch-up. “Full Alignment” is unacceptable and being said without any caveats nor conditions is betraying Brexit and Britain!