Nigel Farage has slammed Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Good Morning Britain today. The lifelong euro-sceptic & Brexit Party leader has been keen to push for no deal stating this would be the cleanest break the UK could hope for.
Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway asked: “This is a deal on the table, are you going to support it?”
Farage responded with his usual passionate fervour:
“It’s not a deal, that’s wrong, it’s a new treaty.It’s 95 per cent the same as the one Theresa May came up with.If we sign up to this we are headed for years of acrimony and this is simply not Brexit.
If the choice is between that and extending and then having a general election in which we can sort that out then I would choose the election all the time,” Farage explained.
All Leave-supporting MPs who back this will regret it for years to come.
52 per cent voted to leave the European Union institutions – we are not, with this treaty, leaving EU institutions.
A great new deal’ is what Boris called it. It’s not great, it’s 95 per cent the same as the one he condemned.”
Meanwhile The BBC have done an interesting analysis of why the EU is so happy with this deal:
1) Lots of it is the same
Ninety-five per cent of this revised deal is the deal agreed with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, during two years of painstaking negotiations.
Citizens’ rights. Money. Ongoing cases at the European Court of Justice. The data of EU citizens stored in the UK. Under this deal, they would all be secured.
Unveiling the deal, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said: “This text… provides legal certainty and certainty where Brexit creates uncertainty.”
2) The Irish border issue is solved… for a bit
With some creative thinking, clever drafting and some give-and-take, the EU and UK have revived the original Northern Ireland-only backstop but with some key differences.
“We shifted our positions but within our principles,” a member of Team Barnier told me soon after the deal was agreed.
In black and white, Northern Ireland is in the UK’s customs territory but in reality the EU’s customs processes will apply, although it might not always feel that way because of exemptions, rebates and other tweaks.
3) Then it’ll be up to the Northern Irish people to decide
The long-term future of the Irish border will be in the hands of the people of Northern Ireland through a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont after four years, and then a further four or eight years later.
If Stormont decides it’s happy to change the status quo and accept a harder border then it’s Stormont’s choice – not Dublin’s, not London’s, not Brussels’.
4) The single market is still protected
Northern Ireland will follow pages and pages of EU rules on agriculture and goods. Items entering Northern Ireland will be checked for compliance with those regulations.
That reduces the risk of dodgy goods ending up in France, Belgium, Finland or the rest of the member states. The single market will be physically protected.
Breaches of those rules can be sent to the European Court of Justice, which means the EU’s highest court still administers EU law. The single market will be legally protected.
5) Boris Johnson has said it will get through Parliament
As the French President Emmanuel Macron said when he arrived at the summit, Boris Johnson assured him he had the votes to get this agreement through the House of Commons.
If there’s a hiccup then there’s always the safety valve of an extension to the Brexit deadline, despite what leaders are currently saying.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
