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Old 30-09-2017, 19:25   #283
Ignitionnet
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Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire
Age: 45
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Re: Brexit discussion

Hmm.

http://news.sky.com/story/sir-jeremy...m-fox-11059514

Quote:
Sir Jeremy Heywood urged to investigate Boris Johnson and Liam Fox

The Foreign Secretary and International Trade Secretary are accused of breaching Cabinet rules by hosting a think tank launch.

Britain's top civil servant has been urged to investigate Boris Johnson and Liam Fox for a potential breach of Cabinet rules.

Labour MPs have written to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood asking him to examine the launch of the new Institute for Free Trade (IFT) think tank earlier this week.

Hosted by the Foreign Secretary, Wednesday night's event was held in the Foreign Office's Map Room.

In the letter, Sir Jeremy has been encouraged to rule on whether this contravenes the ministerial code for government ministers, which states: "Government property should not generally be used for constituency work or party political activities."
Those people who voted leave thinking it would deliver lower immigration would be extremely disappointed in the IFT's vision: it's essentially a deregulated, low tax, zero trade barrier economy along the lines of Singapore, and evidently that vision is one shared at the upper echelons of government. Half of Singapore's population are immigrants, their economy relies on free movement of goods, services, capital and labour where possible.

This vision is actually pretty much what you would expect from Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, Daniel Hannan, etc. They are neo-liberal in the extreme. I have no idea what else anyone would've expected them to look for.

That aside it seems abundantly clear that we shouldn't be paying for celebration of the launch of a think tank. Daniel Hannan is not a part of HMG, but is certainly a member of the Conservative Party and a Conservative MEP.

Be interesting to see what happens.

What a fantastic choice we have in the UK. The Tory dog is having its tail wagged by those who want the UK to become Singapore, and they find the EU too socialist, restrictive, etc, the Labour leader wants Brexit because those awful neo-liberal EU types prevent his protectionism and state subsidy plans but seems to be slowly pushed towards a more moderate position.

Schrodinger's European Union. The libertarian-right think it's socialist and protectionist, the authoritarian-left think it's neo-liberal crony capitalist. We were promised Schrodinger's exit from the EU: all things were promised to all people depending on their own desires. The socialist case was made by some, the neo-liberal case by others, with those awful people in the middle that've become pretty much marginalised now in this new era of extremes wanting the UK to leave the political union but continue to pool sovereignty as a part of the EEA.

I'm hoping that the Conservative Party conference gets their internal power struggles sorted so that this process and, indeed, the entire Government, is no longer being run as a proxy war for control of that party and we get a clearer idea of what exactly the plans are. Right now I've no idea as Boris Johnson can't seem to keep it schtum and Liam Fox has a history of mentally masturbating over the idea of deregulation and a bonfire of workers' rights that he's reminded us of with his support for Hannan's think tank while Theresa May, echoed by Phillip Hammond, talks about a less turbulent approach.

I personally would probably benefit from the IFT's approach. Chances are 90%+ of this forum and the country wouldn't. Singapore is wealthy, and for those with means it's an incredible place. It's also horrifically unequal, and the Government have control over many things Hannan et al would leave to the private sector making things potentially worse here.

Last edited by Ignitionnet; 30-09-2017 at 19:40.
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