Goodness gracious me – never have I seen such squealing from Brussels and from Remainers in this country as the spluttering outrage in the wake of yesterday’s announcement of the “Internal Market Bill” which government will present to the House tomorrow! Thus it’s going to be Brexit all the way down in today’s column, making it a ‘covid-free zone’.

Keep this in mind: nobody has seen the actual wording of the Bill as of yet, but Remainers here and in Brussels must govern the modern communications waves. Briefly, this is what the Bill will apparently address, according to Remain Central:

“Specifically these include giving the business secretary power to determine whether to tell Brussels if state aid given to a company in Great Britain affects a company in Northern Ireland, where EU state aid rules will still apply.” (link, paywalled)

And this is why Remainers and Brussels see it as ‘controversial’, again according to RemainCentral:

“Because it potentially breaches the spirit, if not the letter, of the withdrawal agreement. The deal signed by Mr Johnson last year set up a committee of officials from both sides to work through such issues. The government appears to be suggesting that if agreement cannot be reached then ministers will unilaterally decide which rules to follow. This would be seen as an act of bad faith by the EU.’ (link, paywalled)

Oh dear – that, from the EU, that bastion of negotiating in ‘good faith’! This last sentence from RemainCentral is too precious not to quote: “There is also speculation that by acting unilaterally No 10 is trying to force some movement in the talks.” (link, paywalled) – oh really? One wonders why that should be the case …!

Some of the headlines in this morning’s MSM are equally precious – these are in the print editions as opposed to the online versions – one wonders why! If you want to savour the ‘horror’, go to the BC’s ‘Newspaper headlines’ here.

I followed up on the Guardian’s scream that “Leaked EU cables reveal growing mistrust of UK in Brexit talks” (link). Dearie me! Two things struck me as funny: the ‘cables’ from Brussels are taken at face value by the Guardian, and the two really important people they quote as being ‘against it’ are Phil Hammond and David Gauke, the former Justice Secretary. No, they’ve not seen the text either, but we do remember what they were: the firmest Remainers in Ms May’s cabinet. 

RemainCentral published a quite nebulous piece this morning where mention is made of ‘senior Tories’ who are against this Bill – but strangely enough, no names are given. These ‘senior Tories’ prefer anonymity which of course give enormous weight to their ‘resistance’. ‘Senior EU figures’ must also be mentioned:

“They warned that any move to walk away from the deal signed by Mr Johnson last year would damage Britain’s standing and make it harder to strike trade deals with other countries. Downing Street said yesterday that the plans were only a “safety net” to protect trade across different parts of the UK, but senior European Union figures warned that they could damage trust before the latest round of talks starting today.” (link, paywalled)

Interestingly, Brussels outrage had been in full flow long before the ‘exclusive’ Guardian ‘revelations’ were published at 22.38pm yesterday, with RemainCentral publishing their articles at the usual time of 12.01 this morning. By that time, the DT’s report by their Remain Brussels correspondent documenting the EU spluttering had long been published, at 1.36pm yesterday afternoon.

And by gawd, it’s as if a fox had been let loose inside the Brussels chicken coop:

“The president of the European Commission has threatened to not do business with Britain if “trust” is broken by the UK reneging on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Ursula von der Leyen said respect for the divorce treaty that paved the way for the UK to leave the EU on January 31 this year was a “prerequisite” for any free trade agreement with Brussels. (paywalled link)

For “respect” read: “do as we say”, and accept cher Michel as the foremost taskmaster to whom Lord Frost and by extension Johnson must give explanations, like mischievous schoolboys:

“Mr Barnier told French radio on Monday morning that he would ask David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, for an explanation when they meet in London on Monday evening ahead of the trade talks.The EU’s chief negotiator said honouring the Withdrawal Agreement was “a precondition for confidence between us because everything that has been signed in the past must be respected”. (paywalled link)

As always, cher Michel is on about respect, trust and the single market, which translates into BRINO for all who’ve followed this sorry EU ‘negotiations’ saga. There’s more Barnier-footstomping, but the last sentence made me laugh:

“Mr Barnier said the bloc would not sign any trade deal unless there was an agreement granting EU boats access to UK fishing waters after Brexit, adding: “[…]There are people who do not wish us well, who want to destroy us. Mr Farage and his friends.” (paywalled link)

Good gawd – has cher Michel lost the plot totally? Where and how is Nigel involved in those negotiations? Never mind – we’ve now entered the realm of undiplomatic EU mud-slinging:

“Boris Johnson said he wanted to put a ‘tiger in the tank’ of the negotiations. It looks like the tiger in the tank has shrivelled into a salted slug,” said an EU diplomat. […] Philippe Lamberts, a member of the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Committee, said the UK would be “a rogue state” if it reneged on the Withdrawal Agreement.” (paywalled link)

‘Shriveled salted slug’ – ‘rogue state’: this is how ‘our friends’ talk about us, usually behind our backs but now openly.  And still they warble about ‘trust’ and declare themselves to be ever so conciliatory – if only we were to cave in and accede to their demands on the Single Market and Fisheries:

“An EU diplomat told The Telegraph that a no deal outcome would make the UK the only country in the world without any agreement with the bloc. The source said leaving deadlocked issues such as the UK’s future state aid regime and fishing rights to the last moment risked an accidental no deal.” (paywalled link)

Yes – it’s all our fault for not graciously accepting Brussels Rulz forever! Intransigence is only permitted to Brussels and Barnier. Best show them ‘respect’ and give them all our fish so that they may ‘trust us’. 

In his Diary entry this morning, the indefatigable Sir John Redwood gives a brief resume of the WA2020, the basis for the negotiations between Lord Frost and Barnier – read the whole thing! – but his concluding paragraph puts the blame right where it belongs – in firm but rather more diplomatic language than those EU ‘diplomats’, putting the Remain wailers in their place as well:

“I find it very odd that some are now making silly allegations about the UK and international Treaties when the UK placed this central point at the heart of all our dealings with the EU over Withdrawal Agreement 2019/20. Either the EU assists in good faith to secure this with a deal, or it will have to accept that the UK can confirm all of this again in primary legislation by way of amendment to the detail of the Withdrawal Act. […] So far it is the EU that has resiled from the Withdrawal Agreement by not accepting UK sovereignty and not offering the tariff free Free Trade Agreement they signed up to in the Declaration.” (link)

Commenting in the paywalled  DT, David Jones MP, vice chairman of the ERG and a former DexEU minister, underlines and affirms Sir John Redwood’s observations, e.g.:

“In the first place, the WA contains obligations on the part of both the United Kingdom and the European Union to use best endeavours to negotiate a free trade agreement, acting in good faith. Those negotiations should, according  to the Political Declaration, respect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and the integrity of its internal market. However, in breach of those obligations, the EU have throughout the negotiations maintained an obdurate and obstructive stance, refusing to talk about anything at all until the issues of the so-called “level playing field”, fisheries and state aid have been resolved to their entire satisfaction.” (paywalled link)

Why Remainers and our Remain MSM are still oblivious to the fact that the EU has negotiated in bad faith all along remains a mystery. Mr Jones next explains:

“Section 38 of this year’s Withdrawal Agreement Act provides that Parliament is sovereign in this country, notwithstanding the direct effect of the WA’s provisions on domestic UK law. Therefore, the Government is acting wholly properly in putting its proposed clarifications of the WA before Parliament, and Parliament, equally, will be acting entirely properly if it decides to accept them.” (paywalled link)

Obviously, Remainers do not want us to be sovereign in our own country – why? Mr Jones’ concluding remarks, taken together with those made by Sir John Redwood, shows Remainers up for the traitors they are:

“It is clearly in the interests of both the UK and the EU to strike a free trade agreement that respects each other’s sovereignty. However, nothing the EU has done so far indicates that it has yet, to use David Frost’s expression, internalised the reality of UK independence. In the circumstances, therefore, the Government is entirely right to amend UK domestic law to prepare for any possible outcome to the negotiations, including “no deal”.”(paywalled link)

Amen to that! Why do we keep having to kowtow to the Remain Cabal in Parliament and ‘Our MSM’? They seem to find it ok that and how the EU uses derogatory language for our representatives and our duly elected government. They are happy to overlook the EU’s intransigence. They still seem to work for Brussels. They’ve learned nothing.

KBO!