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Judi Sutherland

@judisutherland.bsky.social

5.2K followers 2.1K following 6.2K posts

Dual British/Irish citizen in Ireland. #FBPE Rejoiner. Cat lady. Lymphoma survivor. PhD Biochemist. Watercolour artist. Former pharma manager. Querying not one but two novels! www.judisutherland.com for more stuff. Occasionally writes for NE Bylines.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 2h

FOM is an intrinsic part of the single market so that’s given. And the ties to the EU would be… joining…

This is all set out in the Copenhagen Criteria but you are being tautological by saying in order to join we have to be willing to join.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 8h

Prepare to repel borders!

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 8h

Which border?

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Reposted by Judi Sutherland

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 22h

When they tell you they plan on throwing out the constitution, believe them.

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Reposted by Judi Sutherland

Good Law Project @goodlawproject.bsky.social · 9h

Over 10,000 people have added their name to keep Hampstead women's pond inclusive.

It only takes 1 minute. Will you join them?
https://goodlawproject.org/petition/keep-hampstead-womens-pond-inclusive

Keep Hampstead women’s pond inclusive

A transphobic pressure group is trying to ban trans women from Hampstead women’s pond – we’re fighting back

goodlawproject.org

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 10h

It’s not obvious. How do you think we would demonstrate long term commitment and long lasting majority etc.? In our constitution, parliament is sovereign and can take us out again by a simple act of parliament at any time.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 10h

I don’t think the EU is in the business of punishing people. They will want us back because we will be a big market for free trade, and because it will look good for us admit the EU is a good club to be part of. The terms will be similar to those for any accession country.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 16h

So what would be your solution?

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 16h

Did you ask them about that or are you using your imagination?

Every accession country is subject to elections. The accession process doesn’t depend on a particular party being in power.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I wasn’t implying anything about the fertility rate of the immigrant population. Just saying that if we need skilled workers now, immigration is one of the quickest ways to do it. We could also train or retrain British workers but then someone would have to do the jobs they are leaving.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve got other things to do right now.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

So we have to influence public opinion. The Leave campaign did it, so could we. Politics is not about the status quo.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I agree, it’s not discussed. But people aren’t going to have babies out of patriotic duty. Either they are single and can’t find a plausible partner, or they can’t afford the mortgage plus the childcare and don’t relish working a double shift for 25 years. Skilled immigrants are part of the answer.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

Well, no. They would need to admit that Brexit was a lie and a con and needs to be reversed.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t think we should be counting students as immigrants as they will only be in the country temporarily. I think we should be processing asylum seekers more quickly. I think we should be training more of our own nurses and doctors rather than pinching them from developing countries.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I think it’s too high. I wonder why the UK Border Force can’t tell who is leaving the country and who is overstaying their visa. I wonder how Chinese cockle pickers were working illegally in Morecambe Bay and whether that kind of abuse of the system is still happening.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

How do you know? AFAIK nobody has run the idea past them.

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

Show me data on that. We don’t know what British people are unlikely to vote for or against.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

Why is it pointless?

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

I’m not interested in data on what the other countries think. I’m interested in what British people think.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

Why should we get the terms on which we left? We were a semi-detached member of the EU which stopped us from being properly committed to the whole project. I don’t think the EU should pander to British exceptionalism. We need to be wholehearted Europeans.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

Show me the studies!

But in any case, our job is to shift the Overton Window until the standard terms for joining seem very reasonable, considering the benefits we would get. Public opinion is a flexible thing, it’s not set in stone.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

The accession criteria are not so different. We wouldn’t get the same rebates, but we are relatively poorer that we used to be. We would have to commit to the Euro ‘when conditions are right’ but so did Sweden and 30 years on, they still haven’t joined the Eurozone.

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

That wouldn't be needed. Why would we join the EEA first?

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 1d

But we already have the terms, we know how the EU operates, nothing will be a surprise to us. There might be some changes to the Ts and Cs but that is a small proportion of the accession criteria we can focus on.