Comments by "Mark Welch" (@markwelch3564) on "'It's nonsense on stilts Nigel' | Nigel Farage u0026 John Bercow clash over whether Brexit was a mistake" video.

@lennylaa1686 so we should aim to be full members and get our seat at the table?
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Seems like " the middle of a pandemic" was an odd time to finalise Brexit. That was the UK government choosing, the EU were happy to extend Why finalise Brexit in the peak of a pandemic?
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The EU let David Frost choose what he wanted, and respected every decision. Frost got the deal he wanted...
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@stephenbull8962 was he threatening article 16 because he didn't like the deal he himself negotiated?
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@Neil G different groups for different issues The local council sets which day bins are collected on National government decides national law The EU parliament decides EU trade law Deciding continent-wide rules at continent level is as common sense as deciding local issues at local council level
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@Neil G Trade is the central focus, but a lot of things overlap with trade. Workers rights, as an example. If you're going to protect working conditions while also protecting the economy, then you need to be aware of both when setting tariffs and such things The core idea remains - some policies just work better when decided as a big organisation, and wouldn't work if you tried to do them as a small organisation
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@neilg4208 The rest of the world is managing by also forming large trade blocs with their neighbours!
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@Neil G but if you have the same customs laws, those are shared laws? Every union agrees to decide something collectively, how could it be a union if nothing is shared?
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@neilg4208 that is a very sensible thing to harmonise if you have a common market and a shared external tariff and customs border
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@Neil G I understand it manages trade, including internal trade. I accept that is a somewhat fuzzy thing, and where trade competence stops, and not-trade starts will be an eternal discussion!
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@Neil G They are all trade related, because policies in those areas can be used to undercut competition Previously, you could protect domestic standards without completely cutting trade by adding tariffs. That isn't an option if you have no internal trade borders though, so you need to agree something else All those other EU competences are how you avoid a race to the bottom on standards with no internal trade borders. Always interested to hear alternate ideas for how to do it though!
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@neilg4208 USMCA (the current successor of NAFTA) absolutely has common standards that all are expected to maintain. They just get decided behind closed doors instead of a democratic parliament There's a bit of a focus on investor rights, especially American ones...
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@neilg4208 America won't take rules from Mexico or Canada What about the other way around?
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@neilg4208 well,their domestic regs aren't the strongest, are they? It would be kinda odd if they made Mexico safer than the USA
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