No deal is still better than a bad deal
‘I would say Brexit is Brexit.’
Theresa May won’t have thanked him for it, but yesterday a typically blunt Donald Trump got to the nub of the matter.
he argued, even before the Brexit White Paper was released, that the British people voted in the referendum to break away from the eU but that the Government’s plan was to be ‘partially involved’. The Mail agrees.
and once the 98 pages of bureaucratese and legal jargon did finally land, it confirmed many of our worst fears. Yes, Britain will leave the massively wasteful and corrupt Common agricultural Policy, and the Common Fisheries Policy which has decimated our fishing fleet. On services – 80 per cent of the economy – we plan to set our own rules, but this will almost certainly be sabotaged by the eU’s negotiators.
The rest of the ‘future relationship’ would seem to be the worst of all worlds: Britain left half in, half out of the eU. On great swathes of environmental and workplace regulations, Britain has agreed not to unpick existing laws.
The so-called ‘common rulebook’ which we have pledged to accept is nothing of the sort. We are being forced to adhere to the single market’s incredibly complex and detailed red tape bible on manufactured goods and agriculture. More worryingly, ‘ongoing harmonisation’ means Parliament must blindly agree to all future eU diktats in these sectors without any say or face the threat of financial penalties.
Most worrying of all, the writ of the european Court of Justice – which has caused so much unhappiness in this country – will continue to cover these areas. The PM has said ‘taking back control of our laws’ is a red line. red line? You can barely see it.
What’s truly depressing is that staying half in, half out of europe will make it all but impossible to do free trade deals with countries like america.
Meanwhile, our civil service has devised yet another interminably complex and bureaucratic customs scheme which would see Britain collect tariffs for the eU (if it can ever be made to work).
Yes, free movement will end, but the document indicates eU nationals will be able to come for short periods to work without visas, but there is no explanation of how we can prevent this becoming a free-for-all. The Mail understands Mrs May’s nightmarish predicament. and yes, we have some sympathy with the argument that this is the best deal she can get through Brussels and our own Parliament – and which can be changed later. The problem is leaving on such a flawed basis will almost certainly sabotage Britain’s ability to flourish outside the eU – doubtless to the gleeful joy of remainers.
Of one thing the Mail is absolutely convinced. New Brexit secretary Dominic raab must now follow through on his promise to turbo charge contingency planning for a no-deal scenario.
It is a disgrace that so little preparation has been done for this increasingly likely possibility. Just one thing. Please don’t let that caricature mandarin, the europhile zealot Olly robbins, get anywhere near it.