Currently reading: British car manufacturing falls for ninth straight month in February

Uncertainty and falling export demands – particularly in China – cited as key factors

British car manufacturing fell by 15.3% year on year in February, the ninth consecutive month of decline, due a continued fall in demand from both Britain and key export markets.

A total of 123,203 cars were produced in the UK in February, compared with 145,518 in February 2018, according to data produced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. So far this year, 243,852 cars have been built in this country, a 16.8% year-on-year fall.

Of the cars produced in February, 28,350 were for the UK market – down 11% on the same month last year – with 97,985 exported, a 16.4% decline. It was the ninth consecutive month that demand for home-built cars had declined in the UK.

 

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The decline in cars built for export was particularly driven by the ongoing struggles of the Chinese market, where demand for British cars slumped by 55.6%. Demand in the European Union, where the UK exports most cars to, fell by 14.9%.

With eight of 10 cars in the UK still exported to the EU, SMMT boss Mike Hawes reiterated that the continued decline in manufacturing highlighted the risk of a no-deal Brexit.

Hawes called the figures “a wake-up call for anyone who thinks this industry, already challenged by international trade hostilities, declining markets and technological disruption, could survive a no-deal Brexit without serious damage”.

UK car manufacturing levels are likely to be hit further in the coming months, with several plants, including BMW and Mini’s factories, bringing forward annual closures until the period after 29 March, the date Britain was originally due to leave the EU.

While the date Britain leaves the EU is now uncertain, the complexities of car manufacturing means that the production closures are fixed. That raises the prospect of further interruptions to car manufacturing later this year, depending on when – or if – Brexit takes place.

 

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James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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professor x 13 April 2019

Brexit, Car Industry and Politcs (Part Two)

So what has the last few weeks brought since the 28th March, or more critically the 29th?

Politically there's been the atypical arrogance of Theresa May-hem on her muddled, misguided and mismanaged idea that a fourth vote for her Withdrawal Bill is still the way forward. Which beggars belief by some margin.

Even more ludicrous are the ideas of the fishing industry of getting the garbled, and gobsmacking, mess which pleases absolutely nobody in the so-called, and now extremely laughable, "United Kingdom", that Brexit will actually happen with a deal and actually be good for the decimated under the tories, yes still them, fishing industry.

I've still to see the Scottish fishermen (mis)led by Bertie Armstrong tell the fishers just where their profits will be when stringent WTO apply and tariffs kick in compared to the current seamless trading arrangement which sees so much Scottish fish travel into Europe to be served in many European restaurants and cafes , contributing much to the Scottish economy. The similarity between Scottish and other UK fleets is moot too. And yet nobody who voted for Brexit wants to admit it.

However nasty and abhorrent that is it literally pales next to the notion that Mrs "I hate Brexit" May-hem and Mr "I'm Anti-Semitic and love Brexit" (but too much of a lentil head to admit it) Corbyn will agree on anything at all, never mind do something of a real positive nature which won't mean total and utter annihilation at the hands of a desperate and dim-witted cabal of clueless conservative back benchers on a power trip from hell. And talking of hell, one soon to ex Prime Minister is hellish enough without the prospect that Corbyn will use this as an excuse to get into Number 10. Corbyn and Labour may find themselves walking right into a tory and Brexiteer blame game trap to let May-hem off the hook.

The first small extension to article 50 and thus giving "us all" (only if of a Brexiteer persuasion) what is not the leaving date (April 12th) has been extended beyond the forthcoming EU parliament elections has been and gone. Or, just as some predicted given the fractious, fractured and unfathomable nature of the splintered political landscape since the Brexit non-debate began.

The fact it's not as much as Donald Tusk wanted and not as soon as the tories and the Brexiteer's want is hilarious. Not only does this mean real world European elections but it opens up the fundamental possibility of another General Election , another referendum about whether to have Brexit at all and that most unwanted (if you are a Brexiteer) of all, total revocation of Article 50. It could very well be that the 48% who voted remain is so much larger after three years of Brexit tripe.

You can also bet Mon-soor "I hate the EU" (the feckless )Farage, will want to get his grubby hands on some EU money so he can fritter it away with all the dumb arguments he calls "facts" too. Just watch all the morons who fell for Brexit and have not one jot of sense get annoyed with all that. Or not given their indifference and ignorance regarding truths and facts in the political and business realms.

Farage's own political fecklessness, and let's face it, utter uselessness too can be summarised by the other news surrounding the launch of his "The Brexit Party" on the 12th of April. Aside from the idiocy shown up by his delegation talents you would think that ensuring only you have the rights to a website name relevant to your latest (alleged) political party might be a priority. And that's on top of his previously imploded pratt laden party UKIP. And his pathetic two hundred person (including him) march on Westminster.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/led-by-donkeys-campaign-group-claims-brexit-party-url-in-effort-to-foil-nigel-farages-european-parliament-hopes/ar-BBVRTh2?ocid=mailsignout

Anyone who seriously thinks he's got a good enough brain in him to lead his "political revolution" is frankly deluding themselves on a grand scale.

Mind you some of the Brexit voters have shown themselves to be as utterly devoid of intellect on the 12th of April too, thus showing their solidarity. Some picketed a branch of German supermarket Aldi and blocked access with a German made Motorhome called a Hymer.  Yes, really. Here's the proof.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/protesters-block-off-aldi-store-demanding-brexit-happens-now/ar-BBVS57h?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=mailsignout

Only a Brexiteer would think that's acceptable to "win" their argument, except for one minor inconvenience, Donald "The Dump" Trump's idiot fan boys beat them to the same game in 2016 with some of them protesting against foreign imports ruining "Murica" with slogans on Mercedes-Benz's. To me the similarities are priceless, but not for the reasons Brexiteer's think.

And is Boris Johnson doing anything even remotely like behaving in a Prime Ministerial manner? Not if the latest in a long line of failed monetary declarations are anything to go by. Similarly many other Brexiteer's politicians (Farage included) have done the very dishonourable things that annoyed so many voters during the expenses scandal. Why? Because they thought they could get away with it and thought the same voters would be mugs enough to swallow it. If that doesn't get you incensed at Brexit based Westminster politicians then what will?

So many Brexiteer's  are keen to turn attention onto May-hem (and it's difficult not to given so much of the previous history) to completely deflect attention away from their own part in foisting and hawking a scheme which has literally torn itself apart in the process of making itself real. But where is their sense of responsibility for creating the havoc, hate and bile filled columns in so many papers?

Like their plan their morals are seemingly lacking.

May-hem's predicament is made worse with the numerous jokes about her latest last ditch date of 31st October, aka Halloween. She might well cling to June as a leaving date but I wouldn't bet against even that going belly up, pear shaped and generally being blown to smithereens by the Brexiteer sock puppets behind the scandal in the first place.

 There probably will be many mocking her spineless inability to do anything at all that is followed through with an action that sticks, even in the short term. She too, like Thatcher before her, may be seen by history as one of the worst witches in Westminster's recent torrid and tawdry history. Some too, may jest about burning her at the political stake or drowning her just to make sure, however her own inept actions have beaten them to that one.

The half-witted Scottish tories are still in a massive doo-doo of their own making scenario seemingly digging an even larger hole than they have in previous weeks for their careers with Jack-ass KerLaw up to no good with an idea (just where oh where did he get that from if not Westminster and its unhinged lunacy) that Scotland, which is predominantly pro-EU and positively European it its outlook is going to renege on its Brexit referendum results. Simply put. Not going to happen. Ever.

Carlaw seems totally unwilling and unable to grasp that his party, in Westminster got Scotland into a situation which went against 100% the claims made by his party in Westminster after Scotland voted to stay in the UK after the independence referendum of 2014. And that the Brexit outcome completely invalidates all the promises made by Cameron and company at the time.

Rhetorically speaking why would Scotland go against its own morality and democracy when it's done its own independent research which proves what a massively stupid idea it would be for jobs and the economy (mirroring as it does research done in the wider UK and England)?

But can the Scottish tories see that? Not on current evidence.

Its rather like the rise in racism in football (again mostly English) in the wake of the Brexit referendum which has also seen a rise in racism against EU and non-EU migrants as many people now see a green light for deplorable behaviour against other people simply because they are Brexit voting and view anybody not English or white as a target for discrimination and hatred. None of that would have been ignited in people without Brexit in the first place.

Similarly the idea that Brexiteer's can antagonise politicians on the street and online via social media is horrible. As if it is ever really okay to wave a camera phone in someone's face whilst shouting abuse after a MP, MSP or MEP has been openly attacked for simply airing their own views which may differ on anything related to the B-word. I do wonder  whether, if the situation was reversed, the Brexiteer's would feel the same about it. Somehow I am certain there would be cries of invasion of personal space and so on.

The way the votes regarding Brexit went is always the way they were likely to go given so much of what should have been discussed prior to the 2016 referendum could not be due to the deliberate and diabolical designs of the Brexiteer's in the first place. If they had a plan it would have been debated and pored over by politicians and the public alike. As it is the total lack of a cogent and coherent idea which could not find itself being torn to pieces by due democratic process is what has been at the real root of the division since the referendum, and a bit before if I'm honest.

I find it totally laughable that so many of the tory back benchers who love Brexit are so desperate to get every part of the so-called United Kingdom out of the EU on WTO rules for trade and travel. It's even more incredulous when the fact is this idea does not give citizens, who let's face it are very well used to seamless trade and travel within the EU and have got so used to other massive benefits, will see all those evaporate before their eyes and mean far more stringent checks at borders when tourism is concerned. Wait for the pennies to drop on that one. Then watch fur fly.

Just  watch too that (predicted) disintegration of the Irish border and the result of "new troubles"  as a distinctly damaging  new era in terror in Ireland. The fact all of that could have been prevented by a common sense called not getting fished in by Farage and UKIP and the UKIP voters who have harmed the entire so-called UK with what can only be described as a ham-fisted hopeless understanding of how inter-connected and positive a community can be if you are within the EU.

Another inconvenience to them is the realisation that some remain voters may have had recently is that if the Brexiteer's are so keen on being out of the EU, then why don't they leave the UK completely and go and live somewhere else?

I hear Venezuela is nice this time of year and it's in need of people to contribute to its failed economy. It should also fit well with Farage and his "Bananas Republic" of his idea of Brexit too. So who's gonna join him? Time to form that orderly queue and get your Brexiteer bums out of the UK.

May-hem's beyond last ditch attempts to convince the remaining members of the EU that her plan can still work is so far deranged its time she was locked up for her, and the countries of the UK's own good. Extending the length of the article 50 process due to the dim-witted division still unhealthily ripping the so-called UK apart means that EU elections must happen, whether or not anyone elected actually sits in their seat in Brussels.

It will be a brilliant barometer of public opinion and could be extremely funny for all those who voted for Brexit and who are still pushing it politically as it could mean what they think is "public opinion" in reality, isn't.

And those elections could lead calls for that most dreaded of things: A second referendum which, alongside the terrible prospect of a pro EU voting public in a General Election. Now, given we have all witnessed almost six million people press via  a democratic petition for another referendum and have seen just over one million marching in favour of the EU outweighing anything the anti-European mob have had to offer its clearly time to re-examine what is seen as "public opinion" on Brexit.

Doing that clarifies matters and provides closure if the public are still in favour of Brexit, conversely it also proves that public opinion has significantly shifted back to the EU model enjoyed for decades. Many people may well wonder (though I don't) what the Brexiteer's are so incredibly scared of when questions like that are posed.

To me it must be extremely frustrating if you have been a pragmatic EU politician getting the fudged flim-flam and flabbergasting antics from the Brexiteer's and May-hem on a daily basis. Their patience must have worn pretty thin with the incompetence and bewildering flip-flopping of some of the Brexiteer's like Rees-Mogg and so on.

But maybe, just maybe, one day all of this utter tripe of a Brexit may well be totally forgotten as one of the most hated periods in the so-called "United Kingdom's" history.  

professor x 30 March 2019

Britains Automotive Industry, Brexit and Politics

Before  anyone gets their political knickers in a twist I'll preface this by stating I am 100% apolitical. Furthermore as someone with a unique automotive design qualification and a cv which also includes self employment and running a franchise I have wider business knowledge too. I have also spent the last eight or nine years putting Elon Musk's deluded fans in their place, and as there's twenty three million of them, compared to 17.4 Million anti-EU Brexiteer's  who don't scare me one bit either.

As far as Brexit itself goes there's quite a lot that can be said when viewing that Nigel Farage created and Conservative misled mess from afar. Starting with what can only be described as misguided notions of imperialistic, monarchical delusions rooted firmly in the past, as part of the so-called "Great Britain" or as its latterly been called "One Britain" (really what the heck is that? and I mean that in all sincerity not in some sense of not knowing), which has been muddied by dim-witted views of (firmly) English nostalgia for the second world war and ideas that they were (through that imperialism and cluelessness related to outdated colonialism) world leaders.

I mean really, get real. Even when that was the case, say with series one Landies and minis designed y Alec Issigonis (ironically to the average dim-wit whose fallen for Farage Issigonis was born in Greece thus proving the necessity of being part of something larger in the car world). Furthermore without the help of the EU and Europe in general automotive safety would not be what it is today. Using the might of Sweden's Volvo as a good example of why European ideas which saved motorists lives in the so-called "Britain" and then directly influenced the remnants of the British Leyland companies, many of whom have disappeared in the wake of the European , and Japanese competition beating them at their own game, and being better built and more reliable as well.

And where was the great British motor industry back then? Dying on its bandaged knees, much like Theresa May(hem) and her plan to get all of the allegedly United Kingdom parliament in Westminster behind the get out of the EU deal she's brokered. But that's not her only problem. looking as she does like a Skeksis from Jim Henson's cult classic "The Dark Crystal" and with a deranged sense that she's uniting the country (the country in question is always England as the Scots have been fundamentally against leaving the EU and see that there are many, many positives to come out of EU membership in terms of the world's view, trade and travel and any number of other socially led possibilities) when all she's done is create yet more division, hatred and uttered more nonsense than any nonsense poem you might be able to think of.

Ask the pro-Brexit leavers where they have bought their cars from in recent decades, and who owns those companies and what mechanisms which enable those sales they've benefitted from as owners of shiny new BMW's, Audi's and Mercedes-Benz's, alongside VW's, Seat, Skoda and others actually are.

The costs of which will rise in the wake of Brexit, especially with a No Deal scenario being the preferred option of so many of the retired coffin dodging half wits who are still banging on about a No Deal being brilliant without ever thinking of the real world consequences. It's no joke that Porsche, part of the mighty Volkswagen Audi Group has raised its RRP for its entire model range prior to Brexit's alleged leaving day on the 29th of March. Just wait till every other car manufacturer and business follows suit due to the extreme negative market conditions that's been created by Brexit and watch the morons beg to let back into the EU.

Ask them too where many of them have spent time on holiday and remind them too just how pain free and harmonious travel  actually is if you are a member of the EU.  Ask them if they have ever drunk wines, beer and spirits made within the EU. Ask them where their weekly and monthly shop really comes from. Ask them too about who some of their favourite football players are (given some of the names in the English Football Leagues) and look at the awkwardness of their "monochrome flash and my mind is grazing" gaze.

Ask them where the disadvantages of the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, actually are and ask them how any of that UK involvement was negative. Then witness the blank faces. Then ask them about all the advances in all forms of medical science and access to prescription medications which is dependent on  seamless EU trade and benefits us all.

Ask them where the UK housing market has been at the same time - incidentally it like most other businesses has flat-lined, or where the "growth" in the UK's economy has been too, most months since the vote it's been almost in negative equity much like the housing market, as 0.1% really is nothing to write home about. Ask them about the NHS being unable to fill vacancies, ask them about who has been picking the UK's fruit which is then exported for them. In fact just ask all the people who voted for Brexit as many awkward questions as possible and watch them run from you in horror.

Farage's tories in scheming, the pro white supremacist racist lot they are, virtually all love Donald "The Dump" Trump and his own particular brand of mafia led thuggery passing itself off (though not the well read or well informed) as making Britain Great Again via "Making 'Murica Great Again". Just take one look at Boris Johnson for buffoonery on a wholly different plane, Liam Fox and Michael Gove, or Andrea Leadsom or that stuck in the eighteenth century moron born with a silver spoon in his stuck up gob Jacob Rees-Mogg  and you find a pathetic bunch of half-wits, who unlike the aforementioned SNP, were so scared of being found out and getting their separatist ideas mauled that they didn't produce a single line of a manifesto beyond an (intellectual) knuckle dragging "We want out of Europe and We want it Now". And the gullibles who barely engage with the political system in Britain bought it, hook, line and sinker. Some have even said they were more fished in than a scene in "Wayne's World".

With a real prospect of leaving the EU with a "No-Deal" scenario looming the automotive sector and many other business sectors must be extremely worried indeed. In fact for a party that alleged to be pro-entrepreneurs and business the Conservatives under May-hem spineless leadership have fallen foul of so much common sense. All the big business with precious few exceptions,  like James "I make expensive vacuums in Singapore" and the numpty behind woefully dull pub chain Wetherspoons, have warned all the pro-Brexit politicians of impending doom, and so have the Federation of Small Business (which makes up the majority of UK business interests accounting for 80%)

Right now that "United Kingdom" is anything but and the only things that will place it back on track are another referendum which the insane Brexiteer mad men and women have been afraid of since the beginning of the truth about what it really is the fools actually voted for was first aired. Its well understood that May-hem's deal has been voted down twice and the idiot she is she insulted all of Westminster's politicians in one go meaning her (quite possibly illegal) third vote has gone down faster than a lead balloon.

Indeed with a reported one million people marching for a "People's Vote " in London, and throughout the UK,  on 23rd March and the "People's Vote" petition crashing due to the number of citizens adding their names to the pressure for some level of common sense to accurately gauge the current public opinion, not that of just over three years ago, it's about time the politicians started listening.  Within a matter of days that petition has gained over five point eight million signatures and yet May-hem, the cabinet and the UK parliament still have got their assorted heads in the sand.

One look at Westminster in recent months, especially over the last year,  has witnessed a large amount of pro-EU flags waving and not an awful lot from the pro-Brexit lobby. It also doesn't take much to see that not one of the anti-EU Brexiteer's has mustered a protest on the scale seen by the pro-EU Remain side, and that too is rather telling.

Ask yourself where they all are, ask too why with an alleged 17.4 Million people in favour of leaving the EU we have not seen one iota of sense from their side if they are so right, ask too where their large protest is. And the answers to that is they have not got one iota , on all those significant counts. For the record Farage's pro-leave protest mustered a mere 200 people including Farage himself, which says so, so much.

Yes, I hear you cry there were "thousands" on the march protesting against the UK parliament on the 29th during the day. And yes, there were cries of "let's leave without a deal, it's what we voted for" but thousands does not even begin to equal the slightly more than one million from the previous weekends Pro EU protest and is absolutely nowhere near the almost six million who have signed the petition to completely revoke article 50 in its entirety. Not by a long, long, long way.

Because "thousands" is not in any way at all equivalent to 17.4 Million. Never has been, never will be. To me, reading all the comments about the many who voted pro-Brexit and their perception of being right and only their way is the solution to it all, if there were 17.4 million truly in favour of Brexit three years on from the vote then Parliament Square in London should have been completely saturated and over-run with protesters on Farage's side.

And yet, they simply did not turn up en masse as you might reasonably expect.  So where were they all? Off getting tanked up in a local boozer (read craft beer emporium) somewhere? Was it giro day? Did the best tattooist in town have an offer on? Or was there a special consignment of real ale going a-begging? Did they have an urgent hair and nail appointment they'd booked months ago and only realised it was today this morning? Or was it their bikini wax day? Incidentally that's just the men I'm talking about.

And too there were howls of derision and frustration from the leave camp yelling "Betrayal" at every moment they could. However I wonder whether any of the people who were gormlessly grunting that have the intellectual gumption to realise that the true betrayal of the Brexit vote, as history may well conclude if my assertion is as correct as I think it is, was the betrayal of the Brexiteer politicians who led the country down the path to its own self made and deluded destruction. 

What really showed their utter inability to accept how inane and stupid their own understanding of the UK political process was the fact so many were still outside the, entirely shut for the day, House of Commons late on Friday night. It's clear that the idiots doing the shouting at that time of the day have little real sense at all when all you are doing is getting hoarse yelling at an empty building.

Similarly Leadsom's talk of following the "will of the people" still negates that most awkward of facts that the true will of the people has not accurately been fully tested by electoral process since the vote all the Brexiteer's including Leadsom herself, are still so keen to point to.

And where does that really put May-hem? Firmly on the political chopping block as not one UK parliamentarian wants her deal, and not one really wants the no-deal either if truth be told as that would be as cataclysmic and catastrophic  as many outside the UK think it will be. And if the (alleged) UK goes for WTO rules then all the deep level comments about tariffs which the automotive industry has written in the small print (it's some paragraphs down in the stories about Honda closing the Swindon plant, and all the manufacturers depend on the same global supply chain, not just the Japanese firms like Honda and Nissan), and some media has not highlighted near enough then pretty much every single UK business , large and small will suffer.

So what then does that mean? Well as some may predict May-hem will shrug her scrawny shoulders and fly off to some tax haven or other with her venture capitalist husband, who as I write this stands to gain quite a few pence betting against Brexit and its consequences.  But the tories don't want anyone talking about that, oh no. That is far, far too inconvenient for them.

In Scotland too, the tories are in deep, deep trouble given how many of the recently elected Scottish conservatives have taken the May-hem line completely disregarding the idea of public representation they should stand for when elected to parliament. So any gains they think they have over their hated Scottish adversaries the SNP (Scottish National Party) will evaporate when the Scots public realise that one.

The notions many Scottish Conservatives, including Michael Gove and Ross "I like to have a grope in Westminster" (if you walk round his home town) Thomson, have of Brexit managing to continue with a seamless border and business tariffs enabling the Scottish Fishing fleet and farming sectors to carry on as before is, frankly ridiculous. WTO rules and anything like Canada Plus Plus will annihilate that in a swift and savage move.

As any of the proposals being mooted involves arrangements which automatically add to the paperwork and business costs of the Scottish farmers and fishing fleet, and I am not factoring in the ultimate harm of Theresa May-hem's Deal or No Deal scenarios (both of whom would be substantially worse for the so-called UK economy) its utterly idiotic and beyond any reason that anyone would then follow through on the options now being considered to deliver Brexit in a post May-hem compromise world as touted by Rees-Mogg and Johnson.

Furthermore it's as ironic as it is unintentionally hilarious to note that not that long ago, the very same Scottish fishing fleet was sold out by the very same political oiks in Westminster actually causing the grief the fishermen of Scotland have been moaning about as if it was all the EU's fault.

Big clue it 's not. Its more to do with the hopeless incumbents and ne'er do wells which have frequented Westminster and in recent years too, created the expenses scandal, numerous sex scandals and generally treated the poor and the populace as a means to their end. Or if you want it another way the same morons who sold co-called  "Britain's" fishing fleet down the river due to their spineless negotiation skills.

But did the people who voted for Brexit account for the fact they voted with exactly the same sorts of morons who "gave" the country all that?

No they did not.

Crucially the EU weren't involved in those situations which lost public support for the misguided MP's who brought the country into disrepute.

And do many people who voted for Brexit really have the level of political knowledge they need to understand in a well informed manner how the local, national and international political systems  which "Britain" and its trade benefit from?

That answer to that too is no. In fact there's been a staggering amount of naivety from those who voted leave.  They have attacked legally here EU citizens, who are here to study or working and thus contributing to the countries well being,  whilst ignoring the fact the UK Government (yes them again) have hammered anyone who is poor, ill or both with their lack of humanity evident in the social care policies introduced after the banks killed the economy.

None of the pro-Brexit commentators have made the connection between the bank induced meltdown, the fact nobody's really been held accountable, or even jailed for the billions of the resulting UK government bailout , or for the losses of thousands of people in the UK,  or the businesses which folded in the wake of the scandal, and then how those UK decisions made by wholly career politicians have as massive negative effect on people's lives whilst the system rewards itself for a job badly done via the morally flawed Honours system, which in essence lie at the root of the reasons why the Brexiteer's including Farage have latched onto like parasitic lice on a salmon.

Whilst Brexit has been thoroughly boring the pants off of everyone throughout the so-called UK and in Europe and the wider world, there's so many more pressing parts of government business, in some cases absolutely urgent cases at that, which simply have been thrown on the fire of indifference and contempt as direct result of the 2016 vote. And seemingly that's just fine and dandy with the politically inept who vote Brexit through. Guess what? It isn't for so, so many other people and that is not on at all.

The sad fact though is there are many, many other reasons why the majority who voted to leave have felt left out and ignored by the system, but that does not negate the counter argument that so many people who voted leave have never, ever engaged with the politicians and used the system to change it for the better, instead of forming their own ideas, contacting local and national politicians and using their voice to raise issues and facilitate positive change in an adult way.

The Scottish parliament in Holyrood has already systematically thrown out every single Westminster option with good reason too. Only, and this is wholly ironic too, the Scottish tories have towed the Westminster party whip, thus ignoring the true democratic will of many thousands of their own constituents, to then talk about being democratic and of democratic will, when they actually mean the English will, not Scottish. And that means wee Davie Muddle (David Mundell) as well as Jack-ass KerLaw (Jackson Carlaw) both of whom crawled all the way up to mummies teat and sucked as hard as possible. And in this scenario "mummy" is the nickname allegedly given to May-hem by her most loyal half-wits in waiting.

One of the funniest quips came from Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon whilst she was talking about the hollow worded emotional blackmail of May-hem by saying "She fell on her sword and missed" regarding May-hem's alleged decision to resign. No wonder too that when Scottish MEP Alyn Smith said "Leave a light on" for the Scottish he got much the same reaction from the European Parliament as he got when he made his "Scotland is European" statement after the Brexit vote.

The Welsh and the Irish may well decide that Brexit and the tories must be vehemently challenged given all the toxicity that Brexit has brought over the last three years or so and what that will bring may turn a lot of the current mis and preconceptions on their heads. It's also not for nothing that the Welsh have joined forces with the Scots on some earlier parts of the last lap of Brexit. So watch that space too.

The ever thorny issue of the "Northern Irish Backstop" means that the dim-wit Brexiteer's still want out of the EU at the entire expense of peace in all of Ireland, a peace that took many, many years to gain, and ultimately through a vital piece of legislation agreed upon 100% by Westminster at the time called "The Good Friday Agreement". Brexit selfishly removes that agreement in one blitheringly baffling swoop. And do the Brexiteer's actually care about the peace loving people of Ireland on that one? No, not all as long as they get out of the EU who cares seems to be the irresponsible prevailing attitude.

No wonder then that the so-called "New IRA" have begun terrorising the alleged "United Kingdom" with suspicious packages left in Glasgow University and other places within the UK as May-hem has been dangerously counting down the clock till the 29th March. Do not be fooled into thinking that those two are at all unrelated, because they are not.

That too brings to mind Donald Tusk's all too humorous, and true, "There's a special place in hell" for Brexiteer's as the hell of a substantially more active Irish terrorist group whose main raison d'être is to cause carnage, confusion and destroy the hard gained peace  is not something that many Brexiteer's will want when it's on their doorstep. And that extremist behaviour is something very, very real due to Brexit. Unless Brexit and the Withdrawal Bill disappear the so-called UK is on the cusp of another era of terror within its own borders. Do any Brexiteer's really want that? Because most people who voted Remain probably don't either. Even Frankie Boyle noted this on the first episode of his new "New World Order" series on Friday night.

The idea that Theresa May-hem has had of forever denying the Scottish people another vote on independence is extremely dangerous, as dangerous for her politically as denying the entire so-called UK electorate another say on what they want now that so much of the lies the ever feckless Farage and his blithering buddies hawked on the people in a worse manner than some side street second-hand car dealer with a line in "clocked motors".

What the tories, and the English casually forget is that if the Welsh and the Irish sympathise with the Scots (who in turn ally themselves with their independence seeking Catalan cousins) it could be that Brexit Britain will hasten the need for Scotland to be independent once more, as it was before the act of union. A further danger for the English, who are still bleating on about their lost empire will probably lose Wales and Ireland too if the way they treat them is anything to go by too. Another aspect which precious few will have realised is that any potential pro-Brexit English person who currently resides in any of the (non England) post independence countries of Britain, may well find themselves quietly ushered over any relevant borders and told "Don't come back".

So what of the middle England at the heart of this god forsaken mess that has the world laughing their heads off in disbelief and the in-fighting and back stabbing as each party and politician in favour of Brexit has gone into apocalyptic meltdown at the thought that they were wrong and the entire scenario is bringing the truly dysfunctional and dis-united kingdom into serious disrepute on the world's stage?

Well part of little En-ger-land will more than probably still vote tory even after this Brexit mess has been wiped from history and the bitter recriminations have eventually ceased. In fact with some of the noisy pro-Brexit tories being hypocritical (stand up Lord Lawson as you allege to hate Europe and the EU but in the last year he bought a house in France) and some like Farage married to EU citizens by birth it's clear that those blatant liars will go to ground.

To say that the EU parliament must have been glad to see the back of him is probably understating it somewhat when Farage's UKIP imploded after the 2016 vote. Farage is absolutely kidding himself with his new "Brexit Party" as that was what UKIP was and all it did was openly waste the very same EU money Farage had the audacity to moan about during his self-aggrandising stint inside Brussels.  His threats to the EU in Brussels show a man who has forgotten what an imbecilic relic he and his UKIP party were, and he's still on the same drugs (for want of a better phrase and that's to really say he's drunk on his own ego and self-perceived power) with his Brexit Party. For his own sake somebody really should find a nice quiet padded cell for Farage and do it soon.

Theresa May-hem's decision to immediately step down after her latest defeat on the 27th March shows a woman who has completely and utterly failed on every single level at all to "unite the country" (which is still really just England) as being the tory she is she regards Wales, Ireland and Scotland with the same disdain and hatred as Thatcher did. Proof of this lies in how she's rolled out the poverty inducing policies which now means that so many in an alleged first world country are surviving (barely) by relying on food banks and has created so many children at a major life disadvantage due to that poverty, whilst she and Cameron bailed out the immoral financial institutions who caused a worldwide fiscal meltdown and fell for Farage's ruse in the first place..

The never ending merry go round of the muddled mess and miasma that is making the elected politicians vote on the same deal and expecting the result to be different is straight from the lunacy booth of the most deranged and deluded.  The idiocy of a third vote, still likely to be defeated and then having another on April Fool's Day and one on the 12th of April (the Titanic anniversary) is equally hilarious and shows a Prime Minister who has lost all her marbles.

Really what is May-hem on? Does her GP know? Does anyone? Because it looks increasingly like she's escaped from the same institution as Chief Inspector Dreyfus from the "Pink Panther" films whilst she acts with the incompetence of Cluseau, but crucially and unlike Cluseau, never solving the case. 

There's been some talk of replacing May-hem with someone pro-Brexit but the real question is who? Too many of the Brexiteer's are back benchers who significantly lack the leadership skills to run a country. Some of the majors names are literally a joke. Most are so deluded and stupid that they make Dubya's term in the White House seem like an oasis of brilliance.

With Boris Johnson once more being touted as a replacement for May as viable it negates the fact that he's another self promoting wind bag, a buffoon and a carnival sideshow  who could not find his way out of a wet paper bag with a hole in it, a way out sign written in 200 foot tall illuminated letters lit up like a Christmas tree. As a figure of fun and a "Have I got News for You" panellist he's fine, and still that aforementioned joke, but Prime Minister? Get real. He's been scurrying away far too much when asked questions which indicates far too much political weakness to be credible.  Do not be fooled by his "serious" haircut he's been sporting of late as that's just him pretending to be a "grown up", which he isn't. And don't get me started on the even more idiotic candidates like Leadsom or Gove. For some real fun watch Frankie Boyle for his view on what lies behind Gove's glasses. And then think of having him as PM. In fact don't, it's even more horrific than who I mentioned before him.

Notions of some Norwegian or Canadian style WTO deal or No Deal should have been dismissed long ago due to the many negative implications for citizens and industries as they will mean increased levels of tariffs and thus will harm what  is left of "British Business" in the wake of HBOS, RBS, Northern Rock and the rest of the closing their branches with alarming frequency banks.

Funnily enough they actually were with the indicative votes when all conceivable options were debated and voted on in Westminster as ways forward to resolve the catastrophe that is Brexit. And nobody was in favour of any of them.

Some idiots have decried the entire parliamentary process since the 2016 vote as undemocratic whilst ignoring the inherent basic fact that all of Brexit has had to be enshrined in UK law, just as entering the European Union was. To do anything less, and ignoring due diligence and political process itself would have been undemocratic. The same too can also legitimately be said of the early decision by the UK's lawmakers in the Supreme Court to ensure that a legitimate course in the negotiations and forming the necessary Withdrawal Bill was taken. That those previous idiots also want nobody to vote in another referendum or have another say from the public should actually be more worrying if you adhere to the notion of a democracy in the "United Kingdom".

Those same Brexiteer's have also conveniently forgotten a long held political truth. That sometimes three hours is a long time in politics, never mind three days of even three months, let alone three years. And, as we all know it's almost three years since that vote so it does have as much resonance as relevance. It's also true to state that the public has been allowed through democracy to change its mind through the regular elections for local councillors, national and international politicians too. To argue, a some Brexiteer's have done that there was only one vote in a wholly democratic system is as weak minded as its ill-informed and shows people who are fundamentally deeply scared of losin now that so many truths have been uncovered about the 2016 vote and the lies connected to the claims about the NHS and others during the referendum.

What too of the £4 Billion pound plus cost of Brexit to the UK taxpayer when so many are stifled by austerity and squeezed salaries? What of the yet to be fully accounted cost of the lengthy "next stages" and what that does to the economy? What about the true cost of the "final payment" to the EU? What of the likelihood of burdening the young people who are still at school with the dim-witted debts produced as a result of what amounts to a con-trick? Is that really an enlightened way to treat the citizens who will shape the future of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales?

Right now the only real world options are another referendum to ascertain what the public thinks,  including all possible options, revocation of Article 50 (quite possibly soon after a public vote) as May-hem's notion of any parliamentarian being in favour of a deal which has been thrown out three times is utter lunacy of the kind I'd expect from Elon Musk and his twitter account.

John Fox 28 March 2019

Doesn't look like Brexit is

Doesn't look like Brexit is going to happen, so future may be bright after all. I expect the pound will jump, and you Brits can enjoy cheap holidays again amoung other things.

Bazzer 28 March 2019

John Fox

Brexit IS going to happen...it's just a matter of when.  Let me explain: Even if all the current nonsense results in a long extension to Article 50, even that is not terrible.  It does mean that we are not leaving yet.  However, it will mean that the two political parties will suffer accordingly in the European elections (actually, they will be wiped out) and in the next general election.  We will have a coalition government with elected MPs who have stood on a stated policy towards Brexit.  Hence people like Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubrey, Yvette Cooper won't be returned as MPs - they have kissed their political careers goodbye.  75% of the constituencies won by the Tories voted Leave, and 61% of the constituencies won by Labour voted Leave.  That will ONLY increase!  This is what those calling for a second referendum forget.

John Fox 28 March 2019

Nah. 2nd ref on the way. This

Nah. 2nd ref on the way. This one won't pass.

Bazzer 28 March 2019

John Fox

I didn't say a second referendum ISN'T on the way, I said Brexit will happen, it's just a matter of when.  Personally, I think we will be leaving before summer - with or without a deal, I'm not bothered too much either way.  But the Brexit genie is out of the bottle, John, and you can't now push it back in.  If there's a second referndum I suspect Leave will win marginally.  I personally don't know anyone who has changed their mind either way, though I know one person who voted remain who said they wouldn't vote remain again - that's all.  So we're heading for Brexit at some point, it's inevitable, now.  Doesn't matter anyway, the EU will collapse when Italy crashes.

John Fox 28 March 2019

remain will win by a

remain will win by a landslide, and as for italy crashing, Mail, Express, etc have been bulling on about that for the 20 years, not going to happen.

Luap 28 March 2019

John Fox wrote:

John Fox wrote:

Doesn't look like Brexit is going to happen, so future may be bright after all. I expect the pound will jump, and you Brits can enjoy cheap holidays again amoung other things.

 

There is nothing bright about a lack of democracy.