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I’m not sure if you can quite say the UK has left. The UK is part of ITER via Euratom, which requires EU membership. It seems the UK is in a grace period for t

I’m not sure if you can quite say the UK has left. The UK is part of ITER via Euratom, which requires EU membership. It seems the UK is in a grace period for the time being, but hasnt quite left: https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/3394 https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/3394

ben_w 6y ago
I thought the UK has left, giving notice for Euratom explicitly at the same time as for the EU because the UK government wasn’t sure leaving Euratom would be automatic? And that Switzerland was a participating associated state?
- zeristor 6y ago
  From the ITER link, the UK has left Euratom, but not fully left ITER due to a grace period, with the hope that the UK will in some way join ITER. As I understand it from the links I’ve found the UK has not explicitly left ITER yet.
  - ben_w 6y ago
    Ah, looks like I misunderstood your initial post, I incorrectly thought you were saying the UK was still in Euratom. My bad. :)
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  UK leaving EURATOM was widely criticised, I struggle to see how it makes any sence to leave an purely technical institution that has nothing to do with brexit.
andyjohnson0 6y ago
The UK left Euratom on 31st January 2020.
raverbashing 6y ago
But ITER is not EU only, having the US and other countries, so they might still participate (Regardless of the merits of ITER of course)
mytailorisrich 6y ago
If the UK wanted to I'm sure that they could stay in ITER considering that "third countries" (ie. non EU) like China are major participants.
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago
  You make it sound like Brexit is some sort of rational process based on what's best for the UK. That seems pretty far from the truth.
  - mytailorisrich 6y ago
    I've checked ITER's details and it's a truly international project, just that the EU is a member rather than member states individually. All major powers are members (EU, US, Russia, India, Japan) and it would be disturbing (at least to me) if the UK walked away...
    - Chris2048 6y ago
      Counterpoint: is there an obligation to share in ITER such that walking away could produce competitive advantage, or are there no such restrictions on non-ITER national projects?
  - Chris2048 6y ago
    Doing what you promised based a referendum is "what's best for the UK". What constitutes rationality in a democratic process is a matter of opinion - and the point is no one is allowed a privileged opinion over consensus.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      Funny you should say that because the Tory election promise for the referendum was that they would give a referendum on the deal they arranged ... so, not "what [they] promised" in a pretty key way. Also I'm pretty sure they promised not to break the Good Friday Agreement; and it seems clear they don't care. That aside, the whole point of having a representative democracy was supposed to be that expert politicians could act on the public's behalf in complex arrangements. The vast majority of MPs (including ex-PM May, for example) supported UK staying in the EU ... Then there's things like how almost all countries have rules requiring a supermajority in any vote leading to major constitutional change ... but the advisory vote of the referendum was passed on the slimmest of margins. If the vote has been "leave with no deal" then the Leave, camp (funded heavily by a Russian oligarch as we now know) would have lost the vote. The whole point of our UK democracy was supposed to be to allow complex decisions to be made without simplistic populism. The economic experts, the scientific experts, the political experts, the legal experts ... amongst these groups the consensus was very clearly for remaining in the EU. It was an act of subversion to arrange a referendum with no clear aim (contrary to the election manifesto) in which the population could be swayed with simple lies. It hasn't even brought the much maligned sovereignty, instead we had an unlawful prorogation of parliament and because of the removal of oversight the current Covid19 crisis has been used to route 100s of £millions to Tory owned corporations under the guise of buying PPE which simply hasn't been delivered (or has and had been deficient ... but that's no surprise, none of these companies were previously PPE suppliers). What constitutes rationality in a democracy surely is open, fair, and democratic as a first step. It's truthful and forthright. These words do not fit this process at all. Convincing people through lies to vote against their own interests isn't democracy. Convince me. [These views are my own and do not relate to my employment.]

ben_w 6y ago

I thought the UK has left, giving notice for Euratom explicitly at the same time as for the EU because the UK government wasn’t sure leaving Euratom would be automatic? And that Switzerland was a participating associated state?

zeristor 6y ago
From the ITER link, the UK has left Euratom, but not fully left ITER due to a grace period, with the hope that the UK will in some way join ITER. As I understand it from the links I’ve found the UK has not explicitly left ITER yet.
- ben_w 6y ago
  Ah, looks like I misunderstood your initial post, I incorrectly thought you were saying the UK was still in Euratom. My bad. :)
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
UK leaving EURATOM was widely criticised, I struggle to see how it makes any sence to leave an purely technical institution that has nothing to do with brexit.

andyjohnson0 6y ago

The UK left Euratom on 31st January 2020.

raverbashing 6y ago

But ITER is not EU only, having the US and other countries, so they might still participate (Regardless of the merits of ITER of course)

mytailorisrich 6y ago

If the UK wanted to I'm sure that they could stay in ITER considering that "third countries" (ie. non EU) like China are major participants.

pbhjpbhj 6y ago
You make it sound like Brexit is some sort of rational process based on what's best for the UK. That seems pretty far from the truth.
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  I've checked ITER's details and it's a truly international project, just that the EU is a member rather than member states individually. All major powers are members (EU, US, Russia, India, Japan) and it would be disturbing (at least to me) if the UK walked away...
  - Chris2048 6y ago
    Counterpoint: is there an obligation to share in ITER such that walking away could produce competitive advantage, or are there no such restrictions on non-ITER national projects?
- Chris2048 6y ago
  Doing what you promised based a referendum is "what's best for the UK". What constitutes rationality in a democratic process is a matter of opinion - and the point is no one is allowed a privileged opinion over consensus.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    Funny you should say that because the Tory election promise for the referendum was that they would give a referendum on the deal they arranged ... so, not "what [they] promised" in a pretty key way. Also I'm pretty sure they promised not to break the Good Friday Agreement; and it seems clear they don't care. That aside, the whole point of having a representative democracy was supposed to be that expert politicians could act on the public's behalf in complex arrangements. The vast majority of MPs (including ex-PM May, for example) supported UK staying in the EU ... Then there's things like how almost all countries have rules requiring a supermajority in any vote leading to major constitutional change ... but the advisory vote of the referendum was passed on the slimmest of margins. If the vote has been "leave with no deal" then the Leave, camp (funded heavily by a Russian oligarch as we now know) would have lost the vote. The whole point of our UK democracy was supposed to be to allow complex decisions to be made without simplistic populism. The economic experts, the scientific experts, the political experts, the legal experts ... amongst these groups the consensus was very clearly for remaining in the EU. It was an act of subversion to arrange a referendum with no clear aim (contrary to the election manifesto) in which the population could be swayed with simple lies. It hasn't even brought the much maligned sovereignty, instead we had an unlawful prorogation of parliament and because of the removal of oversight the current Covid19 crisis has been used to route 100s of £millions to Tory owned corporations under the guise of buying PPE which simply hasn't been delivered (or has and had been deficient ... but that's no surprise, none of these companies were previously PPE suppliers). What constitutes rationality in a democracy surely is open, fair, and democratic as a first step. It's truthful and forthright. These words do not fit this process at all. Convincing people through lies to vote against their own interests isn't democracy. Convince me. [These views are my own and do not relate to my employment.]