Brexit bumbling bad for Britain

Sir, – It appears that long-gone are the heady days post-Brexit when the secretary of state for international trade, Dr Liam Fox, declared that an EU trade deal would be “one of the easiest in human history” and nations would be queueing up to strike deals with the UK.

Indeed, David Davis, former secretary of state for exiting the EU, famously declared that a raft of new trade deals would be in place in March 2019

In the last few days other countries – those same ones apparently so desperate to strike deals with a resurgent UK – blocked the UK’s bid to fast-track its entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the intergovernmental body that regulates international trade and comprises 164 countries.

The UK is a full member of the WTO but its terms of membership are tied up with the European Union, and it needs to have an independent membership document that sets out the terms of its trade after leaving the bloc in March 2019.

Instead of being able, as was proposed, to simply cut and paste the EU text into a new WTO agreement covering the UK, the UK will now face a longer path toward entering the WTO, resulting in a lengthy period of negotiations which could take years.

It also means that other countries can now ask the UK to make concessions in order to join.

Like so many other Brexiteer promises, it appears that the pledge of a UK boldly striking trade deals across the world with nations desperately lining up to do so, is no more than a myth.

Alex Orr.

2/3 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh.