Virus risk to global trade makes quick EU deal best for all
MICHAEL Gove has endured a bumpy few years in politics – largely because he temporarily forgot his own limitations. But few have ever doubted his intellect.
After falling out and back in with Boris Johnson, he finds himself as the Cabinet minister in charge of the Government’s central task: completing the Brexit process in good time and good order so as to secure Britain’s future as an independent and prosperous country.
In the Commons on Thursday he brought admirable clarity to the UK’s negotiating position.
Yes, we are up for a wideranging free trade deal with the EU. But no, we will not accept continuing to be bound by European Union rules beyond the end of this year as the price of securing this.
If Brussels won’t play ball, then in June we will walk away from talks and spend the second half of the year getting ready to switch to World Trade Organisation terms for dealing with the EU.
Gove told MPs: “We want the best possible relationship with our allies in Europe, but we will always put the welfare of the British people first.
“That means ensuring the British people exercise the democratic control over their destiny for which they voted so decisively. That compact with the people is the most important deal of all. We will not trade away our sovereignty…
“We know what we want to achieve.We are ready to go.”
BRAVO for that. Having such clarity is in itself an immense relief. The efforts of Remainer politicians and the big business lobby to prevent us walking away if a satisfactory trade deal is not on offer have ceased. They know that a government with a large majority and immense political willpower won’t be bullied.
Under Theresa May, voters had chosen a path the prime minister was the but too hamstrung and too timorous to go down it. Under the direction of Johnson and Gove, the duo who ran theVote Leave referendum campaign, we are striding purposefully forward.
Yet people are still entitled to be concerned about limiting the economic risks of a departure without a deal.
Being properly prepared for WTO terms and accelerating trade deals with other markets will limit the damage.
But with coronavirus already playing havoc with stock markets and threatening to cause a global recession, it hardly seems like an ideal time to enter a trade war with our neighbours.
This is why Gove’s decision to bring matters to a head by June is so important. And he is not bluffing about walking away.
The Government cannot capitulate to EU demands that it should accept ongoing regulatory alignment or be bound by the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. Neither can it extend the transition period beyond the end of the year.
Doing either would be politically disastrous and quite possibly lead to serious public protests that would harm Britain’s reputation as a good place to invest in and do business.
So Britain needs to make the EU contemplate what its own bottom line is soon. It needs the 27 national governments, some of whose countries are already on the brink of recession, to ask themselves if they are going to let the European Commission start a trade war with one of their most lucrative markets.
And they need to understand it would be a dispute with no good outcome for them because the UK Government is acting under the orders of the British people and cannot budge.
While the British Government has a rock-solid mandate and a mighty parliamentary majority, there is no countervailing popular instruction in any EU member state to give the UK such a hard time that negotiations about the future collapse and job losses ensue.
IT MAY sound counterintuitive but is nonetheless true that having a bust-up with the EU sooner rather than later is a very good idea.
Being seen to line up new trading routes elsewhere in the world, to push through tax-cutting and deregulation measures to make our economy more dynamic, to implement “Buy British” policies in public sector procurement and to urge private households to do the same, will spook EU member states.
While their chief negotiator Michel Barnier and European commissioners may be set on teaching Britain a lesson for breaking free of their bureaucratic stranglehold, this makes no sense for national leaders who will have to face the music with domestic voters.
There is a sensible, mutually beneficial deal to be done with the EU and, with the A-team of British politics back directing operations together, there is every chance it will get done.
‘Gove’s decision to bring matters to a head by June is important’