Breaking news: EU to offer UK the best trade deal so far post Brexit. Who was expecting that? Well I was for one.... the problem has always been with the timing. It'll take years to agree on the terms of any new trade agreement because the UK wants to diverge it's regulations 2/ away from those of the Single Market. And there is only a SINGLE market not cherry picked pieces. This is going to be the stumbling block for signing. FTAs usually require convergence of rules not divergence. DUP and UUP have been in Brussels today with their red lines.

"Why should the UK have to pay more than other EU countries to support the new members states in the Balkans etc? UK is largest net contributor to EU!" Another shouty piece from the Brexit camp. Another LIE and they call us Remainians 'scaremongers'. LOL 2/ How much *do* the UK pay compared to other EU members? Lets take a look:

The United Kingdom pay far less than most members of the EU. Now who woulda thunk that?

The problem we have in UK is that if UK leaves with no Withdrawal Agreement then the EU are bound not only by the Treaty of the EU and the Treaty for the Functioning of the EU but dozens of other international treaties with other countries too. 2/ If the EU break the rules to help out the UK then they'll find themselves in court in the Hague, in dispute at the WTO and potentially sued by other Governments via the World Bank...

The LANGUAGE of Brexit on borders; EU said none "on the island", UK said none "on the border". Irish officials talk about multi dimensional border issues; constitutional, cultural, psychological, societal,historical - UK talk about tariffs, duties and customs and political games. We had been in country for less than 20 minutes before a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment explained that if we wanted an AK47 then we were that moment driving through the best place to get one... easily accessed.

Back in 2016 I asked the question about ISDS when discussing TTIP and whether foreign companies who had invested over a trillion pounds of FDI in the UK might have the right to sue UK Gov for Brexit compensation. 2/ Its taken a while but from a legal standpoint they might have a legal basis for their claims. FDI to the UK is roughly £400 billion from EU27 firms, £300 billion from USA and another £300bn or so from Japan and rest of world...

It's definitely time for bed. It's 9 minutes away from 24 hours since i got home from the Bath for Europe event last night and here I am in southern Spain getting ready for bed.. /1 on the rooftop of the penthouse apartment given to #3blokesinapub for our stay here.... (not quite given but cheaper than an air BnB thanks to the amazing support from the fine folk in this part of the world that also think Brexit is a catastrophic idea). /2

Hiya my fine Followers, it's been a bit hectic once again as you saw from last weekend.... Dorset, Chester, Liverpool... back to London and Lancaster today. We've uploaded 3 new episodes since Friday and have more coming soon... I'm in Trowbridge tomorrow evening and I understand over 150 people in the room followed on Thursday evening in Bath before flying to Malaga to talk to some UK ex-pats (immigrants) in Spain to find out what life is like there amid all the uncertainty..

Ok... this deal or no deal thing needs examining.

What is being discussed by the EU is a Withdrawal Agreement about how the UK separates itself from the European Union. There are two key parts to this.. 2/ 1st the actual agreement itself which has 3 key points that need to be resolved. 1. Rights of citizens in the UK and the EU, 2. The financial settlement of the UK obligations... and 3. A Permanent solution to avoiding a border on the island of Ireland.

A few people asking where our information comes from...

#3Blokesinapub are fact finding because UK Gov and UK media aren't. We go to the places other people dont. Our info comes from the horses mouth. @everycountry #3Blokesinapub are fact finding because UK Gov and UK media aren't. We go to the places other people dont. Our info comes from the horses mouth. @everycountry

There are ZERO chances of UK making a success of Brexit under any model that has ever been modelled by anyone anywhere on the planet. 2/ EU27 will negotiate as a bloc... but most likely first trade deal would be with a country with a liberalized trade policy and a democratic liberal style Gvmnt.

Oh crap. As we know at the moment the most likely scenario of Brexit is that no Withdrawal Agreement is going to be settled. TM the PM had 2/ categorically said that it's her way or the highway. Chequers or no deal.

If she knew that no deal means no Withdrawal Agreement and no transition and one of the tens of

#3Blokesinapub are in Brussels today meeting senior figures from the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission and UK business leaders in the EU. 2/ We've spent significant time developing our relationships to get these meetings set up so that we can give you the facts from the horses mouth.

Two short stories before I head to bed for a 3am start tomorrow... @EveryCountry and I are in Brussels tomorrow for a breakfast meeting for #3Blokesinapub fact finding at 2/ the European Parliament and Commission all day. Last meeting in a pub at 9pm... but I digress...

My Dad rang me earlier and said he went next door to tell his elderly neighbour

Project FEAR Is Now Project FACT. Are you Ready For Project CATASTROPHE?

That was the lead on our press release that went out on Saturday... it read as follows...

YouTube phenomenon #3Blokesinabub have just returned from a two day fact-finding mission to Geneva, Switzerland, 2/ a city filled with the world’s leading experts in international trade,
intergovernmental law and global geo-economics. The facts and evidence #3Blokes In The Pub come back to the UK with present catastrophic
consequences to the people in the UK far, far worse than previously

So... planes delayed. We've just finished watching back the first part of #3blokesinapub in Geneva. We don't normally do that, we film and then @EveryCountry ​​ does all the behind the scenes dirty work like the hero that he is..... but this time 2/ we've met some super senior experts (there are a lot of them in Geneva) and we talked under Chatham House Rules in order that they could speak more candidly..... and oh BOY did they speak candidly.

What if I told you that 2 years ago Liam Fox, our secretary of State for International Trade was making public statements about leaving the EU that weren't true but he could be forgiven because he didn't know what he was talking about? 2/ What if I then went on to tell you that he's been to Geneva more than 8 times and had discussions at the WTO where he was told specifically the things he was saying weren't true and he was educated about the WTO

@DavidDavisMP And yet you completely failed to take into consideration country of origin rules. Milk from NI to Eire to make yoghurt not EU therefore dairy tariffs applied. You failed to take account of the fact that UK is locked out of online EU VAT system. You failed to take account of @DavidDavisMP Product compliance with EU rules. You failed to acknowledge CJEU authority on dispute of equivalence rules. You failed to explain what happens with sanitary and phytosanitary certificates when UK loses right to self certify for EU. You failed to explain the costs to the 17,000

Seafarers... are you ready? "As of the withdrawal date, the certificates issued to seafarers by the United Kingdom can no longer be presented for an 'endorsement attesting recognition' by an EU-27 Member State" - that'll be engineers, captains, pilots and more... 2/ The 'endorsement[s] attesting recognition' issued prior to the withdrawal date by EU27 Member States under Directive 2005/45/EC of certificates issued to seafarers by the United Kingdom will continue to be valid until their expiry.

@mac_puck has inspired a new #3Blokes episode...

That moment when you invite the author of Article 50 to join #3Blokesinapub in filming an episode about ALL OUR TREATIES CEASING overnight. 2/ "We would also be really interested in filming an episode with Lord Kerr if he would be interested to discuss the legalities of Treaties ceasing as he highlighted in Para 3 of Article 50 TEU.

Helping people be Happy, Healthy and Safe should be a given? Political parties should focus on working together to ensure that happens. 2/ A Governments job is to do the things that help run the country.

Local issues should be resolved at a local level and fixed at a local level.

A huge goal of the reformed LibDems needs to be radical. We need radical change.

I'd start with the UK tax code. 2/ We have the largest tax code on the planet, it runs to over 17,000 pages.

Every year new rules are added that close one tax loophole but open up dozens of others for wealthy people to avoid paying their fair share of tax.