Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

He hates the queen as well.

I thought he'd been Knighted jimmy , very sad .

It was a misprint. Someone said "get knotted" and not "knighted".

Haze,

If applied to you it would probably be "garroted".

Thank you for your reply Fred (post 1769), I don't disagree with some of your comment.
2517

WHY should it be just Tory against Tory?? There is others who have
a right to be involved in ANY debate, and if anyone thinks that BoJo
is the best to lead the Leave side is obviously from the remain side.

ANY debate should involve Nigel Farage, who has been campaigning
against the EU for 20 years, and if it wern't for UKIP there wouldn't be
a referendum.

I am voting out, but I am embarrassed to be on the same side as the grotesque Farage. This referendum makes strange bedfellows.

I doubt Nigel would want to go to bed with you Hays.. he's not the type. If you would like the names of a few MPs that would be interested, perhaps, let me know.

How well do you know the few MPs?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36273448

The Bank of England has given its starkest warning yet that a UK vote to leave the EU in the June referendum could lead to higher unemployment and lower growth.

Its latest Inflation Report forecasts inflation will reach 0.9% in September, as long as the UK stays in the EU.

The report expected that after slowing in the second quarter of the year, growth will pick up in the second half.

It came as the Bank voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.5%.

The Bank said that a vote to leave "could lead to a materially lower path for growth and a notably higher path for inflation than in... the report".

The latest minutes of its interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) added that a vote to leave the EU could cause sterling to fall "perhaps sharply" and unemployment to rise.

The MPC said: "Households could defer consumption and firms delay investment lowering labour demand and causing unemployment to rise."

It added that interest rate policy would depend "on the relative magnitudes of the demand, supply and exchange rate effects".

It said that a lower exchange rate might boost trade, but would be "unlikely to offset the drag on activity from increased uncertainty and and tighter financial conditions".
However, it noted that the MPC would face the difficult choice of raising rates to control inflation or lowering them to stimulate the economy.

Analysis: Kamal Ahmed, economics editor

In the Bank of England's assessment of the health of the UK economy, one ringing sentence jumps out: "The most significant risks to the [economic] forecast concern the referendum," the Monetary Policy Committee says.

It goes on to reveal that far from this simply being a judgement on what Bank officials describe as the "uncertainty spike" around the fact the referendum is taking place at all - this is a judgement that Brexit would have a material effect on the economy.

In a Bank world of carefully chosen words, "material" means significant. And significantly downwards.

Read more from Kamal here.
Chancellor George Osborne said the UK now had a "clear and unequivocal warning" from the MPC as well as the Governor of the Bank of England about the risks of a Leave vote.
"The Bank is saying that it would face a trade-off between stabilising inflation on one hand and stabilising output and employment on the other," he said.
"So either families would face lower incomes because inflation would be higher, or the economy would be weaker with a hit to jobs and livelihoods. This is a lose-lose situation for Britain. Either way, we'd be poorer."
Fading
The Bank's Inflation Report said that uncertainty over the EU referendum was already weighing on economic activity: "There is evidence that a material proportion of the 9% fall in sterling exchange rate since its peak in November could reflect referendum effects.
"It is hard to judge how much of the slowdown reflects a loss of underlying momentum and so may persist and how much is likely to unwind if uncertainty recedes following the referendum.
"Referendum effects will also make it harder to interpret economic indicators over the next few months."

Haystack (1777)

Yes I have the same feelings with regard BoJo, just a blustering buffoon
but he's on the LEAVE side, whether that's a blessing is debatable...

But then again it could have been Corbyn(god forbid), IF he'd stuck to his beliefs.

There's nothing wrong with Corbyn ..... that a spine wouldn't put right.

First real test and he sells out , that clown will get Labour less seats at the next election than they have got now if he survives that long.

Some when the grow up stop believing in Father Xmas.

Pissed again LOL!!!

CORBYN hasn't sold out; he just hasn't shown up

bojo, as seems to be his new sobriquet, is certainly no bumbling buffoon, though he has enjoyed giving that image
however, he'll have to show some gravitas if he is to be taken seriously in the front line

He is beginning to look like a ham actor.

However, he could play the role of a psychopath with ease.

Everytime I've seen BoJo he's always come across as a buffoon, no
one can put on an act for so long without slipping up...And he never has.

Like they say 'If you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory'.

In other words BoJo can't change his ways its his normal buffoonish way...

And people like it, Stan and Fred excepted.

Bank of England: 'Could'

Hmmm?

Turkey visa deal unravels as Erdogan defies EU on key condition


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoga has accused the EU of hypocrisy
More
A deal to grant Turks visa-free travel to most of the European Union was hanging by a thread after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Ankara would not fulfil a key condition set by Brussels.

With alarm growing over the deal's future, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker bluntly told Erdogan that Turks would only enjoy travel to the passport-free Schengen area if all conditions were met and it would be "his problem" if this failed to materialise.

The promise of visa-free travel is a key pillar of the landmark March accord for Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to the EU and this could now also be in peril.

Erdogan accused the European Union of "hypocrisy" for telling Ankara to adapt its counter-terror laws in return for visa-free travel while it was in the throes of fighting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.

"The EU stands up and says 'soften your approach over the terrorist organisation'," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, referring to the PKK.

"Since when are you running this country? Who has given you the authority?" he asked, in one of his most stinging attacks in recent weeks on the EU.

"They believe they have a right for themselves (to fight terror) but find it a luxury and unacceptable for us. Let me say it clearly -- this is called hypocrisy."

- Explosion shakes southeast -

Turkey concluded a deal with the EU in March to curb the migrant flow to Europe in return for political incentives including the visa-free travel as well as billions of euros in aid from Brussels for refugees.

Ankara however is obliged to meet the remaining five out of 72 conditions for its citizens to enjoy visa-free travel to Europe.

But with the Turkish military battling the PKK in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Turkey says it cannot change its counter-terror laws.

On Thursday, a blast hit the southeastern majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, killing four "bombmakers" and wounding at least 10 other people, according to the country's interior ministry.

The explosion came hours after at least eight people including soldiers were injured by a remotely detonated car bomb aimed at a military vehicle in Istanbul, according to the local governor's office.

- 'Not my problem, his problem' -

Speaking in Berlin, Juncker indicated the EU saw no room for negotiation if Turkey did not fulfil all the conditions.

"We consider that it is important for these conditions to be fulfilled, otherwise this deal between the EU and Turkey will not happen," Juncker said.

"If Mr Erdogan wants to pursue his strategy, then he has to answer to the Turkish people why Europe is denying free travel to Turks. That's not my problem, that will be his problem."

The EU wants Ankara to sharply narrow its definition of "terror" to prevent recent cases like the prosecution of academics and journalists for publishing "terror propaganda".

A European diplomat told AFP: "We don't have a plan B" if the deal -- which so far helped migrant flows to Europe fall sharply -- collapses.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spearheaded efforts to conclude the deal, said, "We must recognise that we need such an agreement with Turkey in any case and that it is worth the effort to negotiate it even if difficulties arise".

The Turkish minister of European affairs, Volkan Bozkir was set to meet Johannes Hahn, the commissioner for European enlargement negotiations, in Brussels on Friday morning.

Turkey has for decades sought to become a member of the EU but its bid has hit repeated stumbling blocks, sparking increasing bitterness in Ankara.

Erdogan, who has sought to build closer relations with key Arab and Asian states during his presidency, said Turkey had alternatives to the EU.

"In the period ahead of us, either we will develop our relations with the EU and finally get on this road or we will find a new road for ourselves," he said.

"We prefer to build a new Turkey together with our European friends. We will now await our European friends' decision.