Tag: negotiation

But she at least knew she could avoid mass resignations from her cabinet. She could be confident enough about the consequences at home of tabling such a request again. UK risks losing European commissioner role over Brexit delay Read more But with the EU now appearing likely to reject her plea and deliver an extension of up to a year, ending either on 31 December or at the end of March 2020, the consequences are far from obvious this time – both domestically, given the potential shock in her party, and with regard to the EU-UK relationship and future trade negotiations. Article 126 of the withdrawal agreement lays out a clear end date for the transition, a period of time in which the UK effectively remains a member of the EU but without representation in any of the bloc’s decision-making institutions. Brexit secretary confirms plan to let MPs thrash out deal in Commons Read more The 21-month duration of the transition period was not a UK government choice. It was decided on by the commission to tally with the end of the EU’s seven-year multi-annual financial framework (MFF). It made for a neat fit. A Brexit delay until the end of March would leave the UK with a transition period of only nine months – hardly enough to negotiate much if the last two-and-a-bit years of onerous talks is anything to go by. If the UK wanted to extend the transition “by up to one or two years” as foreseen in the withdrawal agreement, a decision would need to be taken in July 2020 – four months into the transition period – by the joint committee overseeing the implementation and application of the withdrawal agreement. From 1 January 2021, the EU and the UK would share a single customs territory, and Northern Ireland would stay in much of the EU’s single market acquis.

Kate and Gerry McCann will be given full custody of Brexit after PM Theresa May called them both a ‘safe pair of hands’, citing their previous experience dealing with European authorities. After the Prime Minister conceded that her negotiations were going nowhere, she sought out the best that Britain has to offer. ‘To some, Brexit is like a child. It needs to be treated with care and nurtured. And I can think of no-one better than Kate and Gerry McCann,’ she told the press. The couple will be handed all the Brexit papers built up so far and are already hard at work to protect the process. ‘We’re going out for a meal to do a brainstorming session. All the papers have been left in our hotel room where I’m sure they’ll be safe and sound,’ said Gerry. Despite a dubious past, the McCanns are still thought to be more competent than anyone in the Conservative or Labour Party.

Aa Aa EU leaders have expressed there's no renegotiation on the Brexit deal but there's room for renegotiation, clarification. What does this all mean? Our panelists Martina Anderson, an Irish MEP, and Brian Maguire with Euractiv, weigh in. "Theresa May wants something that she thinks she can give to the DUP and her radical wing within her party, the ERG … anything that’s not legally binding, they won’t accept," said Maguire. He adds: "Anything she gets is nice warm words to be able to bring this back to Westminister." Anderson said she wouldn't be surprised if Article 50 would be revoked and then invoked. "No one knows the British and the British establishment better than us. We’ve been in negotiations with them far longer than what we care to remember and we know their tactics and we try to explain this to [Brexit negotiator] Michel Barnier. "They get you to the negotiation table, they get you to sign off on the agreement and as soon as the ink is dried, they leave the table and they negotiate downwards," she said.

The UK’s capacity to secure the best free trade deals after Brexit has been thrown into doubt by figures showing only around 30 civil servants attended a session on how to negotiate a trade agreement. The revelation came in a report by MPs on the foreign affairs select committee, in which the body responsible for training free trade negotiators said it had intended to train 240 staff up to expert standard by Brexit day on March next year, but so far only 90 were at that level. The head of the Diplomatic Academy, Jon Benjamin, told the committee the targets were challenging, adding: “We will be dealing with counterpart officials in other countries who may have been doing this for many years,perhaps exclusively so.” May's Brexit deal sounds like a 'great deal for the EU', says Donald Trump Read more Some have claimed that the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May severely hampers the UK’s ability to negotiate free trade deals independent of the EU. Donald Trump implied on Monday that the EU had negotiated a Brexit deal with the UK that left it unable to strike free trade deals with the US, a point strongly contested by Downing Street. MPs knuckle under and vote it through. A new leader then tries to assemble a majority behind a tweaked deal. Labour tries to force an election The opposition tables a vote of no confidence. It was not clear why there had been such slow progress in building a body of expert trade negotiators, but the report highlighted a problem of low pay. Brexit deal explained: backstops, trade and citizens' rights Read more The committee described the problem of relative low pay inside the Foreign Office as alarming, unsustainable and deep rooted. The committee urged the government to look at options for improving the pay offer at the Foreign Office, both for centrally contracted staff and for local hires abroad.

Former House speaker and Fox News political analyst says President Trump drives the left crazy and the country is in a cultural civil war. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as…

We need to value problem solving over partisanship. It's time for a new approach. To start, major shifts in our political process, media and economy since the 1980s have encouraged division. Social media amplifies these divisions. As a result, we have reached a stalemate in politics and government. But first each side must recognize that they cannot move beyond stalemate and reach their own goals without the other side's consent. We need a new approach to the political process, one that values problem solving over partisan combat. Second, we need to reach out to the other side of an issue. But to truly get what your group needs and to produce results that will last, you need engagement that meets the underlying needs of all sides. Power -- defined as getting others to work with you for your needs -- grows from relating to each other and understanding the other side's underlying objectives.

Piss-up in a brewery CANCELLED after Britain’s Brexit negotiators put in charge. A piss-up in a brewery had to be cancelled after Britain’s team of Brexit negotiators were left to plan everything. Desperately needing a confidence boost ahead of the next round of negotiations, Theresa May gave her negotiating team an open goal by giving them £100,000 of tax payer money and telling them to show everyone a good time. Problems quickly emerged though when none of the team could decide what constituted a ‘good time’. ‘We all made our separate plans and when we came back as a team to discuss them they were wildly, irreconcilably different,’ said one negotiator. After an intense four-day negotiation, the team realised they had missed their deadline for the piss-up whilst still debating how it should be done. ‘So, after careful consideration, we decided to just split the £100,000 equally between us,’ the anonymous negotiator told us. Could Brexit also be cancelled as a result of their incompetence? It’s looking increasingly likely.