Thursday 26 April 2018

They are just not thinking.

Parliament demonstrated more than ever yesterday that they are a treacherous bunch of imbeciles whose loyalties are to Brussels, not the British people. The resolution to keep us in a customs union was a slap in the face. A two-fingered salute to the voters.

Being in a customs union ultimately leave authority over the UK's tariff defences in the hands of Brussels - even after we voted to "take back control". It was OUR decision and they now choose to defy us. But what makes it all the more moronic is that it does not actually solve anything. It brings no remedy the to the NI border problem, it doesn't eliminate third country controls and it has nothing to do with the VAT border.

The IoD and FT, among others, tell us it does away with origin checks but those inspections are based on intelligence led customs systems where there is a suspicion of fraud - much like we do already even as EU members.

Moreover, for all that we are told technological solutions could not work, the EU has issued an edict saying that by 2020 all data between customs authorities, including declarations must be electronic. The world over is moving to WCO conventions. We only need to look in the most recent EU FTA to see that the EU is doubling down on trade facilitation commitments under the WTO TBT agreement where all trade partners are obliged to move to paperless transactions.

The only reason Norway still has checks is because they have not yet upgraded their systems and continue to operate a differing VAT regime which is nothing whatsoever to do with a customs union. The very idea that a kiosk clerk is going to do anything more than a cursory inspection of certification is risible and ultimately unnecessary since origin certificates are issue in advance.

There is a WCO convention where the originating country is required to carry out investigations on behalf of the importing country if requested. The whole thing is sewn up in such a way that border checks on ROO are an irrelevance.

So while our quarterwit MPs think they have won a great victory, all they have done is put pressure on negotiators to leave a core power in the hands of Brussels while actually doing nothing at all to alleviate border friction. If we want frictionless borders then much is going to depend on the regulatory relationship but there are no customs union issues which cannot be resolved through existing frameworks and those about to be release imminently.

Consequently all we need do is agree to an interim period where we voluntarily track the EU external tariff until our systems are ready. But no, our cowardly and thick MPs have been utterly negligent in learning how the system works and taken the path of least resistance.

We may have a political obligation to keep NI free of border infrastructure but we have no political obligation toward Nissan, Toyota and the likes - and there is every reason to believe in Efta we could negotiate a fairer ROO threshold for the auto sector.

For all the we have been told we didn't know what we voted for, we know that we voted to become an independent country and that requires us to be a distinct customs entity with control over all aspects of our trade policy. These issue illiterate clowns sought to bind the government in crucial negotiations without the first idea how the system works, knowing full well that this is more to do with sabotaging Brexit than softening it - hobbling the UK out of pure spite. How petty can you get?

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