Political commentator Bob Lister reflects on the UK-EU talks.
Sputnik: How successful have negotiations been between the UK and the EU?
Bob Lister: I think what the EU needs to remember is that they need to trade with us more than we need to trade with them. There has always been a £79 billion trade deficit between what the EU sell to us and what the UK sells to them. However, with the downturn in the car trade, etc, that won't be as great as that but it will still be significantly more than we trade with them. So, they actually need us more than we need them. We actually sell more medicines and drugs to the EU than they sell to us, so they don't have any real issues that they can hit us with, so they really need our trade more than we need to trade with them. We've already found out that we are looking to trade with Australia and New Zealand, Canada and America potentially so we can, I believe, make up the trade that we may lose from the EU with other countries. Really, we just need to stand our ground. I do believe we've got the upper hand.
Sputnik: What areas essentially should the UK be prioritising when it comes to these negotiations as we move forwards?
Bob Lister: We don't want any EU control over the UK whatsoever. Any suggestion that the EU have any jurisdiction over the UK, in any condition whatsoever, must be stamped on and if that means that we don't trade with the EU; they will be the losers because they need our trade more. We've had this Barnier bully boy for far too long and we just need to now just dig our heels in and say enough is enough. Sadly, we've had all the schools fiasco and Priti Patel and the illegal migrants swamping the media. So clearly, that's taken things off the burner for some people but clearly, Brexit is still number one.
Sputnik: For example, say if a deal isn't ratified, what happens then? Where do we go forwards? I mean, is a no-deal Brexit something which should still remain on the table?
Bob Lister: We keep on changing the goalposts. I believe the deal had to be ratified by the end of July. That was the original consensus and now we're moving it to the final knockings. In that time, we'll have no fish left, we'll be hammered in a number of ways and really we just need to dig our heels in and say: 'Are you going to make these concessions? If you're not, we might as well leave now. The other big issue of course, is a bank bailout scheme. The EU already owes us £3.1 billion that we've put into the fund so far if some of those banks in the EU fail, we don't want to be liable for paying huge amounts of money for supporting their banks. The amount of money that we put in, we receive very little back when we have an emergency, so really, we just need to wash our hands over them in my opinion. I was confident in Boris. Sadly, I don't believe is firing on all cylinders. Sadly, I think the Tories are losing support in their droves at the moment. I'm not sure this government has got it right. I don't know what government would get it right. We have to do something because Boris needs some support and some help to make the decisions. I think he needs to get to grips with Brexit, with Williamson, with Priti Patel, the whole cabinet and possibly have a cabinet reshuffle. I know it's planned for the autumn but really, he should do it now I think.
