Deal postponed

The current agreement is not working in N Ireland and clearly needs to be revisited. The EC is refusing to extend the existing period of grace for this to be done. I don't believe the EC fully understands the sectarian tensions building up there, or in the case of Mairead McGuinness I don't believe she wants to understand. Continuing to withhold the grant of equivalence to the UK's financial services because of this seems like a strange tit-for-tat response as there is no connection whatsoever between the two things.

For anyone with a knowledge of the fragile political balance on the Island of Ireland it's very clear that the implementation of the new rules will inevitably result in violence and bloodshed. It seems that the EC's vice president, Maroš Šefčovič has blocked the UK's moves to extend the grace period while the matter is discussed further.

I'm not sure there is a solution to the Irish problem. There never was. But it would be better to discuss matters further rather than risk violence. Retaining the status quo until October and re-negotiating that part of the agreement would seem to be the sensible solution, but sensible doesn't appear to feature much in the EC's plans.

As for the decision by McGuinness to refuse equivalence to the UK (despite having granted it to a host of other countries) and her comment that "there remained gaps in information provided by Britain on its intentions to diverge from EU rules" I understand that the UK has provided 3000 pages of clarification so far. The EC's decision is clearly more to do with politics than information. So who's being untrustworthy there?
 
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The current agreement is not working in N Ireland and clearly needs to be revisited. The EC is refusing to extend the existing period of grace for this to be done. I don't believe the EC fully understands the sectarian tensions building up there, or in the case of Mairead McGuinness I don't believe she wants to understand. Continuing to withhold the grant of equivalence to the UK's financial services because of this seems like a strange tit-for-tat response as there is no connection whatsoever between the two things.

For anyone with a knowledge of the fragile political balance on the Island of Ireland it's very clear that the implementation of the new rules will inevitably result in violence and bloodshed. It seems that the EC's vice president, Maroš Šefčovič has blocked the UK's moves to extend the grace period while the matter is discussed further.

I'm not sure there is a solution to the Irish problem. There never was. But it would be better to discuss matters further rather than risk violence. Retaining the status quo until October and re-negotiating that part of the agreement would seem to be the sensible solution, but sensible doesn't appear to feature much in the EC's plans.
The two sides were apparently close to reaching agreement for an extension of the grace period but then Gove was replaced by Frost as the U.K. negotiator. Suddenly things have become all hot and bothered again.
 
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The current agreement is not working in N Ireland and clearly needs to be revisited. The EC is refusing to extend the existing period of grace for this to be done. I don't believe the EC fully understands the sectarian tensions building up there, or in the case of Mairead McGuinness I don't believe she wants to understand. Continuing to withhold the grant of equivalence to the UK's financial services because of this seems like a strange tit-for-tat response as there is no connection whatsoever between the two things.

For anyone with a knowledge of the fragile political balance on the Island of Ireland it's very clear that the implementation of the new rules will inevitably result in violence and bloodshed. It seems that the EC's vice president, Maroš Šefčovič has blocked the UK's moves to extend the grace period while the matter is discussed further.

I'm not sure there is a solution to the Irish problem. There never was. But it would be better to discuss matters further rather than risk violence. Retaining the status quo until October and re-negotiating that part of the agreement would seem to be the sensible solution, but sensible doesn't appear to feature much in the EC's plans.
It's all the EU's fault boo hoo, down be too disheartened, remember your glorious victory, you won. Don't forget they need us more than we need them, they'll come round begging for forgiveness when we don't buy their prosseco
 
The two sides were apparently close to reaching agreement for an extension of the grace period but then Gove was replaced by Frost as the U.K. negotiator. Suddenly things have become all hot and bothered again.
I agree. The EU finds Frost a tad too direct and belligerent for them. Gove would have seemed more conciliatory
 
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It's all the EU's fault boo hoo, down be too disheartened, remember your glorious victory, you won. Don't forget they need us more than we need them, they'll come round begging for forgiveness when we don't buy their prosseco

Ever thought about contributing to the discussion?
 
Thanks for the input. If I posted a link to the same stuff in the Telegraph, would you not be able to free your hands to contribute?
Don’t read newspapers, full of propaganda and bullshit. I prefer a cheeky video clip to see me right.
 
Really? How would you do that?
We've already had the same discussion on a previous thread but you didn't think both sides being under the same common roof had helped to bring about peace. Without that commonality, there won't be an answer to the problem in NI that appeases both extremes of the debate.
 
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