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UK’s Johnson threatens to withhold $50 billion Brexit payment

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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UK’s Johnson threatens to withhold $50 billion Brexit payment

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6/8/19
(Reuters) - Boris Johnson, the leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as Britain’s next prime minister, said he would withhold a previously agreed 39 billion pound ($50 billion) Brexit payment until the European Union gives Britain better exit terms. The EU has repeatedly said it will not reopen discussion of the Brexit transition deal it reached with May last year, which British lawmakers have rejected three times, prompting May to announce her resignation earlier this month. May stepped down as leader of the governing Conservatives on Friday. Johnson, a former foreign secretary in May’s cabinet, is popular with ordinary Conservative Party members, who will decide between the two candidates who come top in a series of votes by Conservative lawmakers over the coming weeks. “I always thought it was extraordinary that we should agree to write that entire cheque before having a final deal. In getting a good deal, money is a great solvent and a great lubricant,” Johnson told the Sunday Times.

Britain is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31. If Parliament does not approve a deal - and the government does not ask the EU for another delay - there risks being major economic disruption from a disorderly departure. The 39 billion pounds represents outstanding British liabilities to the EU, which would be paid over a number of years according to the withdrawal agreement negotiated by May. Johnson also said border arrangements with Ireland should be settled only as part of a long-term agreement, rejecting a “backstop” which would avoid checks on Northern Ireland’s border but which Conservative lawmakers fear is a backdoor way of requiring Britain to continue to follow EU rules after Brexit. The EU has said guarantees to keep the border open between Ireland and Northern Ireland are an essential part of the transition agreement. Separately, one of Johnson’s rivals, environment minister Michael Gove, said he would scrap the value-added tax (VAT) levied on most goods and services and replace it with a lower U.S.-style sales tax.
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Sounds like BoJo took a few courses at the Donald J. Trump School of Transactional Diplomacy.
 
Good for him ... and Britain.

I'd like to know what the "39 billion pounds represents outstanding British liabilities to the EU" is.

Is that a sort of EU membership fee ... or what did the Brits get for 39 billion pounds?
 
Good way of tanking the UK's future credit rating, not to mention scuttling any future co-operation with the (still) second largest economy in the world.

Where the scheme seems idiotic, one should realize that BoJo is not really an idiot. Merely a blatant liar who is playing to the idiot gallery of those that have wet dreams over this approach.
 
Fletch said:
I dont see the problem here. Care to explain?
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If you need to have matters explained to you, you profess your ignorance.

Where that is a good approach of itself, it precludes you from seeing (or not seeing) anything at all.
 
Chagos said:
Good way of tanking the UK's future credit rating, not to mention scuttling any future co-operation with the (still) second largest economy in the world.

Where the scheme seems idiotic, one should realize that BoJo is not really an idiot. Merely a blatant liar who is playing to the idiot gallery of those that have wet dreams over this approach.
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Well, as long as he delivers brexit, who cares if he wants to act like an idiot? Should only be a good thing for remainers, someone who is "playing the idiot" is sure to drive people to the other side.
 
DarkWizard12 said:
Well, as long as he delivers brexit, who cares if he wants to act like an idiot? Should only be a good thing for remainers, someone who is "playing the idiot" is sure to drive people to the other side.
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It's not a good thing for anyone at all and BoJo isn't going to do what he says anyway. For one thing he's not going to be allowed and, as I said, not being the idiot many like to make him out as being, he knows this. For another, the disastrous consequences of the UK tanking obligations it has agreed to, are known to him just as much.
 
Chagos said:
It's not a good thing for anyone at all and BoJo isn't going to do what he says anyway. For one thing he's not going to be allowed and, as I said, not being the idiot many like to make him out as being, he knows this. For another, the disastrous consequences of the UK tanking obligations it has agreed to, are known to him just as much.
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indeed, it seems Farage may become prime minister before Boris does.
 
Chagos said:
If you need to have matters explained to you, you profess your ignorance.
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Well known on the domestic scene. Now also displayed regarding foreign topics.
 
Chagos said:
If you need to have matters explained to you, you profess your ignorance.

Where that is a good approach of itself, it precludes you from seeing (or not seeing) anything at all.
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Wow. Someones a bit snottier than normal this morning. Perhaps you logged in here by mistake. This is a debate/discussion forum. Obviously, you are not up to answering the question I posed--which wasnt addressed to you anyway--so perhaps you might take your trolling elsewhere.
 
Rogue Valley said:
Well known on the domestic scene. Now also displayed regarding foreign topics.
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If you cant defend/discuss your own OP's, why do you post them? I posed a very simple question yet all you guys can do is attack the questioner. Why? Because you dont have an answer and are afraid to expose your own ignorance. Well, too late.
 
DarkWizard12 said:
Well, as long as he delivers brexit, who cares if he wants to act like an idiot? Should only be a good thing for remainers, someone who is "playing the idiot" is sure to drive people to the other side.
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The problem is that Brexit without a trade deal will be extremely disruptive for both sides.
 
DarkWizard12 said:
indeed, it seems Farage may become prime minister before Boris does.
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Not really sure what BoJo's end game is, unless it's just about playing games (something he truly loves).

The parliamentary constellation of "hard no-deal" opponents hasn't changed with May's departure, Brussels stance on the current deal not being negotiable hasn't changed. So the only ambition I can imagine (beyond just enjoying games) is that of sitting in No. 10 for once, and be it ever so briefly.

Because if he really goes for the hard crash-out (and attempting to blackmail Brussels is a good step towards achieving that) it won't be any Tory-internal no confidence vote he'll be facing, it'll be an overall parliamentary one.

As to Farage, the only way to establish his actual standing in this whole mess would be national elections. In which he hasn't a hope of either gaining a majority for his current party or being able to form one with any coalition.

The problem remains that this whole mess is not the result of only a parliamentary stalemate, it's the result of a nation-wide one.
 
Fletch said:
Wow. Someones a bit snottier than normal this morning. Perhaps you logged in here by mistake. This is a debate/discussion forum. Obviously, you are not up to answering the question I posed--which wasnt addressed to you anyway--so perhaps you might take your trolling elsewhere.
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For one thing it's late afternoon over here, for another, if you state not seeing any problem on the one hand while professing your ignorance over the issue on the other, what's the point of discussing anything with you at all?

Seeing how the problem has been explained at length already, maybe it's you that logged into here by mistake and maybe it's thus also you who needs to get on top of some own projection issues.

By, for starters, taking your own advice.
 
rocket88 said:
The problem is that Brexit without a trade deal will be extremely disruptive for both sides.
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More disrupting than the uncertainty of whether or the UK is going to leave? At least if it's without a trade deal, the market will be quick to price in the consequences, and the UK government can quickly see where the deficit lies and conclude new trade deals individually to make up for the losses. This uncertainty doesn't do anyone any good.
 
Chagos said:
For one thing it's late afternoon over here, for another, if you state not seeing any problem on the one hand while professing your ignorance over the issue on the other, what's the point of discussing anything with you at all?
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Yes, some people are jerks all day long. And if you dont want to discuss things with me, then dont. I wasnt looking for your opinion in the first place.

Seeing how the problem has been explained at length already, maybe it's you that logged into here by mistake and maybe it's thus also you who needs to get on top of some own projection issues.
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Where was it discussed 'at length?'
 
rocket88 said:
The problem is that Brexit without a trade deal will be extremely disruptive for both sides.
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What gets lost in the whole hype from all sides is that the divorce on the one hand and future relations on the other, are two separate issues altogether.

May tried in all sorts and manners to marry the two but finally, in view of Brussels' refusal, had to concede the impossibility. In other words agreed on behalf of the UK.

If Brussels has already repeatedly stated that it won't re-negotiate that deal, what does any remotely sane person believe it's going to say, when any UK representative attempts to actually blackmail it?

That it doesn't believe in the by now universal rule of never giving in to hostage takers on account of that encouraging others?
 
DarkWizard12 said:
More disrupting than the uncertainty of whether or the UK is going to leave? At least if it's without a trade deal, the market will be quick to price in the consequences, and the UK government can quickly see where the deficit lies and conclude new trade deals individually to make up for the losses. This uncertainty doesn't do anyone any good.
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...and that (bolded by me) is how more and more East of the Channel are seeing it as well.

Much as the EU would wish to avoid a hard UK crash-out, its fear over that happening is widely over-estimated in view of how business by now wants to get this darn thing off the plate.
 
The EU also owes the UK, so this is a shrewd move by Boris- it will force the EU bureaucrats to the bargaining table.
 
DarkWizard12 said:
More disrupting than the uncertainty of whether or the UK is going to leave? At least if it's without a trade deal, the market will be quick to price in the consequences, and the UK government can quickly see where the deficit lies and conclude new trade deals individually to make up for the losses. This uncertainty doesn't do anyone any good.
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Perhaps, but then who's to blame fir the uncertainty? Johnson's allies turned down the deal they had and keep voting to wait and hope for a better one.
 
PoS said:
The EU also owes the UK, so this is a shrewd move by Boris- it will force the EU bureaucrats to the bargaining table.
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They were at the bargaining table. The deal was rejected.

The question is whether the EU is willing to do it again. So far, they are not.
 
I think it is time for the Queen to step in and dissolve parliament and call new elections. Why? Boris and Co are planning a coup. They want the Queen to put parliament in recess until after Brexit date, to force a hard Brexit. By putting Parliament in recess, the new Conservative PM can avoid having a vote of no confidence against him/her and being forced into an election before October and Brexit....

Sent from my Honor 8X using Tapatalk
 
PeteEU said:
I think it is time for the Queen to step in and dissolve parliament and call new elections. Why? Boris and Co are planning a coup. They want the Queen to put parliament in recess until after Brexit date, to force a hard Brexit. By putting Parliament in recess, the new Conservative PM can avoid having a vote of no confidence against him/her and being forced into an election before October and Brexit....

Sent from my Honor 8X using Tapatalk
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Dissolving Parliament? Is that within the Crown’s power? What are the conditions for use of this maneuver?
 
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