UK politics
PM is expected to announce the draft Brexit agreement this evening.
Current rumours are that the UK will remain a member of the EU customs union indefinitely; a committee will be formed that will periodically determines whether the UK is fit enough to leave the customs union; and Northern Ireland will have a special status partially in the EU, partially out.
re: UK politics
I'm thinking that the DUP won't be happy with that and might drop their confidence and supply agreement.
I fully expect a few cabinet resignations before the day is out.
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Cabinet has apparently (presumably, majority) agreed to the draft Brexit deal. No word on how many of them didn't.
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Some (seemingly) good news for EU nationals living in Britain and British migrants living abroad: The draft agreement grants the same residency rights as you currently have.
re: UK politics
If you have lived in Britain or an EU member state for five or more years, you will be allowed to reside there permanently.
You only lose this right if you then move elsewhere for five or more years.
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I don't know enough legalese to parse this; but it sounds like the UK is going to remain a member of the European Medicines Agency for the length of the transition period too?
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The UK has to pay for any extra admin that customs procedures incur.
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I'm just skipping over all the stuff to do with criminal and trademark law and stuff. I don't imagine it's super interesting.
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Leaving the EU means having to deal with our own nuclear waste.
Interestingly this and related articles seem to state that ANY nuclear material on British territory becomes property of the UK.
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The ECJ can still rule on anything that happens up to four years after leaving the EU.
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I don't know if those brackets are significant, but this kinda implies that the transition period could last all the way up to 2099.
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(But if the transition deadline is extended, the UK will have to pay membership dues, and still be shut out of certain EU programmes.)
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The UK shall remain part of the European Development Fund until the current round of work is complete; so if the EDF is currently breathing new life into your run down post-industrial town, the EU's got your back.
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Dedicated committees on the Northern Ireland problem, the Cyprus problem and the Gibraltar problem.
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This section is literally several pages long but it basically boils down to "You're not allowed to change anything about the border ever"
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To clarify, everything in today's draft agreement—barring some stuff about the Irish border—only applies during the proposed transition period.
After that's over, anything can happen.
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Dominic Raab has resigned.
To be fair, I was expecting him to resign last night. 12 hours was longer than I was expecting. :P
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I don't get how people say "the end of free movement" as though that's a good thing, tbh.
re: UK politics
PS. This also applies to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.