The UK and EU TRADE negotiations are nearly concluded at the time of writing. How many times have we heard that in recent months and years ? It’s been the story throughout this protracted process. By the time you read this, it is possible that these talks may have come to a conclusion one way or another.
The UK has been trying to negotiate with the EU since the summer of 2015. David Cameron failed, and got a minor concession of “opting out of ever closer union”, which David Lidington MP, his European affairs cabinet member, told me personally was basically a worthless soundbite as the UK was still subject to QMV (qualified majority voting).
If only David Cameron had trigged article 50 on the 24/6/16, then all these matters would have been truly resolved with a compressed 2 year period to agree a free trade deal like Canada by mid-2018. But he was so shocked, he resigned. Mrs May was too scared to press the button in July 2016 and then actually allowed time for Gina Miller to raise her case with the courts. If Mrs May had triggered A50 once she took over, there would have been no court cases, and no blocking of Brexit by Keir Starmer, the Dark Knight of Tony Blair’s round table and High Visionary Prince of Hindsight.
Theresa May had limited success but never got on to the trade talks (which she expected in October 2017, a month after her Florence Speech). Instead the EU tied her hands with the so-called divorce and forcing an impossible agreement on Northern Ireland in the event that the main agreement was never achieved. (Which was always the EU’s ultimate objective.)
Boris succeed in 2019 by appointing David Frost to lead the negotiations and got the Withdrawal Agreement altered.
If he had not achieved this, then from 01/01/2021, the UK would have remained in the customs union and single market ad infinitum, since they would have been incapable of reaching ANY trade agreement.
However, the EU were not expecting even this to actually happen as they imagined the UK Parliament would carry on squabbling like rats in a sack, and any subsequent election would bring about the Arch Deacon of the Flat Cap Communism into Number 10, for whom Sir Hindsight had persuaded to Stop Brexit.
The Child Catcher (as in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) in all of this has been that pompous Frenchman, Michel Barnier.
All this delay gave the EU time to batter the UK over the head with its devilish pitchforks and appoint the most duplicitous and untrustworthy Frenchman to lead their so-called negotiations.
Ollie Robins was an EU yes-man and agreed to everything Barnier wanted. When Dominic Raab took over from David Davis, the civil servants on both sides were annoyed because an elected politician was finally getting involved and telling the EU what we wanted. But Ollie Robins submitted again to Barnier’s demands so Dominic resigned in late 2018.
In 2020, Mr Barnier has spent the entire year trying to bash David Frost on the head with his metaphorical shovel and fishing rods, saying “We want all your fish or no deal.”
The EU misled the UK back in March 2020. The UK wanted fishing to be a stand-alone agreement, but that slave of the empire, Barnier, was determined to follow his masters ensuring that trade and fishing would be all rolled into one deal.
The Transition or Implementation Period as agreed by Mrs May was meant to be a period of time for business to go from the old to the new arrangement. But here we are, weeks away from the end, and business have not known fully what the new arrangement will be. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was intended to sort out the future relationship during the 2-year period.
The problem with the UK and the EU is that most of the time in the UK we have simple majority single-party Government, which can achieve manifesto commitments and provide win-win solutions. But for the former nation states of the European Empire, most typically have weak coalition governments so win-win is not part of their philosophy. Instead it is “everyone has to give some ground”, concede, compromise and fudge, lose-lose all round.
Whatever the outcome of the final negotiations may or may not be by the time this is published, one thing we can be sure of. The UK was never comfortable with being a member of the European Empire and whatever “concessions” are agreed by either side (which both sides will claim is a reasonable deal), if any, at least in less than 2 months, the UNITED KINGDOM will be a fully INDEPENDENT and SOVEREIGN NATION.
God Save the Queen.
Ipswich Conservatives 