Brexit - would you change your 2016 vote

[Letters]

Why is no-one thinking of the real victims? Crisps

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...hecks-mps-told

[Xhaka Can’t]

Irish crisps are far superior anyway.

[Ollie the Optimist]

There really is an almighty row between the EU & AstreaZeneca at the moment over the Covid vaccine.

The EU want AZ to divert supplies meant for the UK to them because of shortfalls but AZ agreed the contract to supply the UK 3 months before the EU agreed theirs. The UK had 3 months to fix supply chain issues but because the EU were slow at negotiating, it meant their supply chains are behind.

There was also the briefing from the Germans to their media that the vaccine was only 8% effective for those over 65 which turned out to be total bollocks.


Either way, this row is going to get very political if the EU effectively tries to steal vaccines meant for the UK because they were slow at ordering them. The EU spokesperson today said “we reject the logic of first come first served”

Not quite sure that works here. If you take ages to order and therefore have less time to fix supply chain issues, you cant just take products meant for others to fix your own mistakes.

This is a fascinating interview from teh CEO of AZ that came out yesterday https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/20...nes-284349628/

Either way, lets face it, if the situation was reversed & the UK were trying to divert vaccines meant for the EU because of our failings, the EU would have probably declared war on us!

[Niall_Quinn]

There really is an almighty row between the EU & AstreaZeneca at the moment over the Covid vaccine.

The EU want AZ to divert supplies meant for the UK to them because of shortfalls but AZ agreed the contract to supply the UK 3 months before the EU agreed theirs. The UK had 3 months to fix supply chain issues but because the EU were slow at negotiating, it meant their supply chains are behind.

There was also the briefing from the Germans to their media that the vaccine was only 8% effective for those over 65 which turned out to be total bollocks.


Either way, this row is going to get very political if the EU effectively tries to steal vaccines meant for the UK because they were slow at ordering them. The EU spokesperson today said “we reject the logic of first come first served”

Not quite sure that works here. If you take ages to order and therefore have less time to fix supply chain issues, you cant just take products meant for others to fix your own mistakes.

This is a fascinating interview from teh CEO of AZ that came out yesterday https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/20...nes-284349628/

Either way, lets face it, if the situation was reversed & the UK were trying to divert vaccines meant for the EU because of our failings, the EU would have probably declared war on us!

At least we'd have plenty of time to prepare. The only danger would be complacency as we waited.

[Ollie the Optimist]

So the EU have now triggered Article 16 of the NI Prtotocal which effectively puts a hard border between Ireland & Northern Ireland following their ban on vaccine exports.

Seems to imply that UK vaccines bound for Norther Ireland are also banned but i might have misread that.

Also today the EU have been attacking the UK over the EUs failure to actually vaccinate their own people. They spent too long trying to haggle over price rather then actually buying the bloody things.


Basically this week the EU have shown themselves to be exactly what Breixteers always claimed. Probably a good thing there isn’t a second referendum this year, leave would be winning by a mile due to the antics of the EU this week

[Ollie the Optimist]

I think this tweet sums it up pretty well

Unbelievable – a hard border, imposed by the EU, *one month* into the treaty, after it spent four years insisting that was unthinkable, to stop the UK getting vaccines it paid for, because of the Commission's shite handling of procurement. They have lost the plot. https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status...10836852305927

I dont see how any come justify the behaviour this week of the EU.

Macron has also just come out & attacked the UK strategy with a lie that quite frankly Trump would be proud of by claiming our strategy isn’t serious as we are only giving one dose.

That’s not the case at all. He also claimed that the AZ vaccine doesnt work in over 60s despite teh EU regulator & UK one approving it.


Also begs teh question, if these AZ vaccines dont work, why are the EU threatening to effectively steal our supply, imposing a hard border in Ireland and threatening AZ with legal action.

[Letters]

Gotta say, they do seem to be acting like dicks.
Although obviously if we were in the EU they wouldn’t be acting like this towards us though.
Is the argument that if we were in the EU we wouldn’t have been able to sort out our vaccination strategy on our own like we did?

[Ollie the Optimist]

Gotta say, they do seem to be acting like dicks.
Although obviously if we were in the EU they wouldn’t be acting like this towards us though.
Is the argument that if we were in the EU we wouldn’t have been able to sort out our vaccination strategy on our own like we did?

Effectively yes.

The EU stopped their members sorting out their vaccinations on their own. Germany, Italy, France & Netherlands had negotiated contracts with AZ to buy the vaccine in June before the EU took over and insisted all nations act as one through them. This delayed the contract for three months & then they agreed basically what France etc have negotiated.

We could have authorised the vaccine under emergency use if we were in the EU so we could still have been quick on that aspect but would have no control over the delieveries of the vaccine etc.

[Letters]

I see.
So. Basically
Brexit

?

[Ollie the Optimist]

I see.
So. Basically
Brexit

?

If the referendum was this year, this week alone would have won it for brexit in a landslide

Seriously, the way the EU have behaved, threatening to steal our vaccines, imposing a hard border in Ireland today, spreading false information about the Vaccine is pretty much evidence of all the faults people raised with the EU during the referendum. Ignoring immigration etc.

The way they have handled their vaccine roll out is appalling, they spent to long trying to negotiate cheap prices which allowed others to just buy them & jump the queue. The reason our vaccines with AZ are ahead is because the contract was agreed in May and meant that production lines were being worked on from then. It meant more time to iron out issues. The EU agreed their contract several months later so of course will have delays. They started production 3 months after us.

The Israeli Prime Minster yesterday stated that he told his team not to negotiate price with Pfizer, just pay it as we need them. The UK has a similar attitude and guess what? Both countries are ahead. The EU have tried to save money, which is fine to a degreee, but in a pandemic speed is everything. If a vaccine costs a bit more then pay it, as it will mean opening up sooner which will make up the higher prices