Nine weeks ago, on 4th February, my website blog was headed ‘FORGET BREXIT, IT IS NOW REFERRED TO AS BRITAIN’S UK INDEPENDENCE – UKI’ and what I said in the blog forms the content of Solar Solve’s official stance on the subject on its website page titled UK INDEPENDENCE – UKI. It can be viewed here.
Up to that point in time, BREXIT and UKI had been the main topic of conversation and media attention in the UK and EU countries for the last 5 years. It has been a very long time: full of all the bad things associated with politicians, bureaucrats, all forms of news media, false news accusations and umpteen million air-time hours listening to pontificating pundits telling us what they THINK MIGHT happen. There have also been broken friendships, and lots more negativities. I don’t think there was anything good came out of it all and it’s not over yet!!
In my website blog on 2nd August 2017 I wrote:-
Tens of thousands of politicians, news reporters and media ‘experts’ have been kept in plentiful work for the last two years pontificating about BREXIT and they will surely continue to do so for the next couple of years as well. Lucky them, being able to give meaningless opinions and talk for thousands of hours about nothing really, whilst they entertain people who care but have no control now over the future of how this important decision will be transformed into reality. The full blog can be found here.
Well, 2½ years have passed since then and we have made some progress in the form of UKI but there is still a long way to go. A different, more serious global matter is now hijacking the news front and feeding the same pontificating pundits, who have suddenly now become pandemic health experts, with more but different fodder to get their teeth into.
British Marine is the well-respected trade association for the UK leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry. It has just launched a PREPARING FOR BREXIT webinar with the theme of BREXIT AND THE MARINE INDUSTRY and it states:-
Following the decision to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom has now entered into a ‘transition period’.
What does this mean for the marine industry? What should marine businesses be doing to minimise risk and put themselves in the best position once the transition period draws to a close? British Marine is delighted to introduce a webinar to provide members with an update on Brexit developments and the effects on their business.
Whilst some aspects of negotiations are unclear and much uncertainty around Brexit remains, it is known that the transition period is due to end on 31 December 2020 if no extension has been agreed.
The webinar describes the different possible outcomes of the negotiations and highlights what marine businesses can do to prepare now.
Topics including Recreational Craft Directive, safety requirements, environmental measures and standards are covered in the webinar, all expertly narrated by British Marine’s Head of Technical, Ross Wombwell.
To view the webinar, click here. It lasts 15 minutes.
The information in the presentation is factual, clear and concise. It lays out the current situation and covers the main two ‘What If’s’. If there is a deal, the rules relating to whatever that deal is, will apply. If there is no deal, then WTO – World Trade Organization – rules will apply.
The time is getting on. With the current pandemic putting a lot of past crucial issues into a less important perspective and seeing most nations globally working together for a unified cause, I wonder what sort of effect it will have on these UKI discussions. It seems to me that the UK is going to have quite a significant task on its hands recovering from the pandemic when it is over. Would that not be better achieved if it is totally free to negotiate with all countries in the world, without having to seek approval from 27 of them before it can go ahead and make deals? Like many countries we will be near the bottom of the ladder with a huge amount of debt and we will need to climb it as quickly and effectively as we can. It’s bad enough with 2 opposing major political parties trying to get one over on each other all the time, instead of agreeing a best course of action to recover the UK to a position of global strength and respectability. If the UK also has to report to the EU bureaucrats, who will be
in the same position and probably putting their own country’s needs before the EU, who knows how it will work out?
As my penance for this outspoken blog I guess I have to sign off as one of those pontificating, know-it-all pundits giving my meaningless opinion by telling readers what I THINK MIGHT happen.
Have a nice day, take extra, extra care at this time and please obey your countries social distancing rules.
JHL MBE SSL Co. Chairman