UK asks EU to keep its proposals secret

[struggle4progress]

Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Fri 20 Sep 2019 11.08 EDT

... The row has been sparked by a British demand that the EU’s negotiating team treat a long-awaited cache of documents outlining the UK’s latest ideas as “Her Majesty’s government property”.

Whitehall told the European commission team that the three “confidential” papers should not be distributed to Brexit delegates representing the EU’s 27 other member states.

Sources in Brussels said that in response the point was being made forcefully to the British negotiating team that all proposals would need to be made available for the EU’s capitals to analyse for talks to progress ...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/20/fresh-brexit-talks-row-uk-eu-proposals-secret

[struggle4progress]

1. Ireland warns of 'civil unrest' on UK border

Adam Payne 47m

Ireland's deputy prime minister has warned that Brexit could lead to "civil unrest" on the border with Northern Ireland as he poured cold water on suggestions that the European Union and United Kingdom were close to agreeing a new deal.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Friday morning, Tánaiste Simon Coveney said there was still a "wide gap" between the UK and EU in negotiations.

Talks have stalled over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's insistence that the EU must scrap the controversial Northern Ireland backstop element of the existing deal.

The backstop is the insurance policy which would keep the UK tied to EU trade rules after Brexit if no alternatives are agreed in time, in order to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland ...

https://www.businessinsider.com/ireland-warns-civil-unrest-uk-border-brexit-deal-hopes-fade-2019-9

[struggle4progress]

2. Liberal Democrats bet on vow to overturn referendum

Sep 19th 2019 | BOURNEMOUTH

The liberal democrats do not like Brexit. To clear up any lingering doubts about this, at their conference in Bournemouth a batch of their freshly elected meps strode on stage wearing “stop brexit” t-shirts. Elsewhere, activists wearing blue berets spangled with eu stars wandered around hawking “Bollocks to Brexit” stickers. For those who had still not got the message, Jo Swinson, the party’s leader, unveiled a new policy: if the Lib Dems win the next election, they will revoke Britain’s Article 50 request to leave the eu “on day one”.

While Labour has wobbled on Brexit, the Lib Dems have dug in as the party of Remain. Their previous policy was to support a second referendum, which they have called for consistently since the first one, in 2016. The party says it will still back a second referendum if, as is almost inevitable, it fails to win a majority ...

https://www.economist.com/britain/2019/09/19/the-liberal-democrats-bet-on-a-vow-to-overturn-the-brexit-referendum

[struggle4progress]

3. Winners and Losers by the Numbers

If the U.K. has no deal in place with the EU, it will be forced to rely on hastily signed trade agreements with partners outside the single market, such as the United States.

By Nicolas Rapp and Daniel Bentley
September 20, 2019



https://fortune.com/longform/brexit-no-deal-hard-soft-winners-losers-trade-deals-uk-us-eu/

[Wounded Bear]

4. So they want out, but they want to dictate how EU handles things?

[OnDoutside]

5. It's probably due to them offering to put the border down the middle of the Irish sea.

That was always the answer but the Tories are no longer dependent on the DUP.