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Germany will desperately want a deal because they are on the verge of going into recession and so will a lot of EU countries. A trade deal will take a lot longer than 8 months though. It wouldn't surprise me if the Tories sell the fishermen down the river (excuse the pun) for a free trade deal.

The Irish General Election is going to give the EU a headache. Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have said they won't work with Sinn Fein so looks like there could be another General Election in a few weeks time. First time since 1932 that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael haven't come first in an election.

This is the first "phase" of change to the dual power of political influence in Ireland Matt. I think Varadkar's days are numbered esp when he utters extreme remarks like, "My party will not associate with Sinn Fein"! Then the voting public in Ireland will eventually bring him down as the "sea of change" is definitely coming! Remember that Sinn Fein have not even fielded a full quota of candidates to take on this Irish GE but they are offering a popular "left of centre" agenda to tackle many of the "home probs" that are self-evident to lotsa people in the republic and these people will back Sinn Fein, a party that also has a good number of senior officials who are articulate and know exactly what they want and what direction they are going in!! The duopoly is broken and attempting to marginalise Sinn Fein from their politics will be political suicide!