Friday, December 08, 2017

Red lines disappearing down a sink hole

The red lines of the Brexiteers: control of our borders, no money to Brussels, control of our own laws, British courts supreme. What have we got: our only land border to remain open; £40 billion to go to Brussels; the UK will align itself with EU laws, rules and regulations; the ECJ to continue to have jurisdiction over the UK. It seems the Brexit extremists drew red lines on the ground and have just seen them swallowed up by a sink hole.

Months of unnecessary wrangling by the government achieved nothing. The delay they unnecessarily caused by their posturing has given the UK and EU greatly reduced time to negotiate the future relationship, particularly on trade. It turns out ministers don't even have a vision yet of what our future should be.

I read the divorce agreement document this morning. I was struck by the announcement that, in the absence of a free trade agreement, the UK will be aligned with the single market and customs union. So, we are paying £40 billion to leave but will agree to abide by the rules we were told we were leaving behind. The big difference between now and Brexit Britain is that we won't have any say over the rules in the future. This is not a case of "taking back control". It is a case of handing over control.

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