I've toured Parliament easily in excess of double figure numbers but always as a gueat of a politician and never had to pay a penny for the 'privilege' :hmmm:

VARAD ENOUGH Brexit-bashing Irish PM Leo Varadkar quits following crushing election defeat, serves you right you plonker.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/110093...aradkar-quits/

He certainly won't be missed by a great many here in the UK and no doubt the EU will repay his loyalty by giving him a lucrative position but at least it won't be UK money paying his wages.

I can't honestly say I'm surprised but no doubt the smaller contributors will still want their disproportionate share of the cake.

There are so many camps in this dispute that its not really surprise that its hard to reach compromise. In one end are "one percenters" who want to keep EU funding at 1,0% of combined GDP and compensate by cutting funding. Then there is the Commission which wants combination of revenue increases and cuts. In opposite end is the European Parliament which requests 1,2% of combined GDP which would be significant incrases over what budget was pre-Brexit.


Another important dispute is on how to use that money. How much to agricultural subsidies, how mcuh into cohesion funding and how much into everthing else such as scientific research, enviromental projects and defence funding. When you consider that decisions will more or less stand for seven years, its understandable that many countires are ready to fight hard as chances for changes are not often available.

I doubt this will affect me, I'm only two years into a ten year passport.

I doubt this will affect me, I'm only two years into a ten year passport.

I'm not sure how the issue around fishing rights will be resolved if it is even possible at all.

Fish exports are pretty small compared to other trade but seem to get the biggest headlines.

^ I'd say fish exports are so small is because the EU fishing trawlers are providing everything that the EU countries need. :doh:

foreign aid
 

The foreign aid budget should be used to resolve this floody crisis and help these communities who are underwater. In the meantime, I don’t see a single foreign country coming to our aid when we have a crisis like this. Charity begins at home, and with half the UK under water, this is a vital cause. Taxpayers’ money should be going towards flood relief, not girl bands in Ethiopia (or whatever else it is they spend this budget on).

THE SUN ON SUNDAY SAYS Does China need our flood aid cash when we face so many pressures of our own?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/110220...s-foreign-aid/

UK spending on foreign aid.

https://fullfact.org/economy/uk-spending-foreign-aid/

I notice China and India are no longer recipients.

^ The government as usual are pulling the wool over peoples eyes, all they did was re-package it up and named it something else.

HOUSE of COMMONS LIBRARY BRIEFING PAPER
Number 7996, 19 February 2020

Q11 Why is UK aid still going to countries like India, China and South Africa?

Members of the public have complained in recent years that, despite official statements that UK aid would no longer be spent in middleincome countries like India, China and South Africa, this promise was being broken.
It is true that UK aid continues to be spent in these (and other) middleincome countries, although it has decreased. But a closer look at the statements made by 2010-15 UK coalition government shows that it did not actually say that spending would end completely. :haha:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/p...al-dissasters/

"The total envelope of the ERDF of €196.4 billion remains unchanged. To help member states cope with natural disasters the EU will also continue to use its solidarity fund of which €500 million can be mobilised each year."

I wonder which one of these losers will be picked :hmmm:

My thinking is that she knows she can no longer enjoy the protection Steptoe used to provide her so she has decided to jump before she is pushed.