Brexit chaos bodes badly for the talks

BREXIT Secretary David Davis’ admission that no impact assessments have been carried out concerning the effect on the UK economy of leaving the EU will do nothing to quell anxiety that the country is unprepared for what awaits after March 29, 2019.

A House of Lords report published today underscores just how great a challenge it will be to agree a major deal in the remaining time and makes the case for buying more negotiating space.

The UK Government has accepted the need for an implementation period but even securing this transition phase will require major progress in the Brexit negotiations.

Whitehall appears to have miscalculated just how important the issue of the Irish border is to both Northern Ireland’s DUP – upon whom the Tories depend for support in the Commons – and the Dublin Government.

Thousands of people died in the civil war in the south of Ireland and in the Troubles. Neither side will consent to the future status of the border being determined in a stitch-up in either London or Brussels.

It is deeply embarrassing for Theresa May that she was not able to secure the support of the DUP’s Arlene Foster ahead of a crucial summit at which the PM needs to win the green light for talks to begin on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU.

If civil servants and ministers have struggled to understand the priorities and sensitivities of a partner in government and the Dublin administration, people may well ask how deep an understanding the PM and her cabinet have of the concerns in the other EU 27 states as well as Scotland and Wales.

Business leaders who are concerned at the absence of impact assessments will wonder if Whitehall appreciates the intensity of worry about Brexit.

Mrs May used to say that she would not provide a running commentary on the Brexit preparations but she will need to assure her counterparts across the EU and the UK as well as anyone with a stake in the economy that we are not in the throes of a tragic farce that will culminate with the needless impoverishment of families.

The UK Government received its marching orders when majorities in Wales and England voted for Brexit. A majority of people wanted the country to walk out the EU’s exit door – but this is very different from ordering the Government to drag the economy off a cliff.

It should be possible to reach a deal which works in the interests of all parties, securing greater sovereignty for the UK while minimising disruption for businesses. It is in the EU’s interests to facilitate a gentle transition so that we continue to import products and services from member states; an EU which has invested time and energy in securing a free trade deal with Canada should jump at the chance to have a frictionless arrangement with the UK.

Goodwill and mutual interests should clear away the obstacles but Mrs May needs to prove her Government has a coherent idea about the deal it wants to win. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%