The Guardian newspaper has an interesting piece by Michael Bloomberg, media mogul and former mayor of New York under a title that pulls no punches: Michael Bloomberg: Brexit is stupidest thing any country has done besides Trump. It is hard to argue with the points he makes whilst confining oneself to the rational.
In her much-vaunted Florence speech, Mrs May called for a two year transitional agreement with the EU where the UK would continue to be bound by the “aquis” (essentially European laws) and contribute £20 billion to the EU (it was never made clear if this was to be considered as part of the “divorce” settlement or merely the dues for two years of continued membership). It was explained that such a move was in the interests of both the UK and EU and would allow businesses in the UK and the EU27 some measure of confidence going forward. This seemed eminently sensible and was broadly welcomed, but Brexit stalwarts such as the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, were quick to comment: “Do I want the delay to go on longer than two years? Not a second more”; others were unhappy at the idea of any transitional period, favouring a “no deal” Brexit. That such people can hold elected office, let alone play a role in government is beyond baffling.
However, sanity did not prevail for long. Mrs May was quick to suggest that the transitional agreement would only happen if there was a “deal” to transition to. This is foolish since the two-year Brexit timetable was always said to be too tight to allow for all of the details of severance of EU-UK ties and a new trading relationship to be settled – the de facto extension of this by two years would at least have given it a more realistic period. Indeed, there will be no discussion of the future trading relationship between the EU and UK until December (at the earliest) as insufficient progress has been made in the three key areas of i) citizen’s rights; ii) the financial settlement; and iii) the future of the Irish border (which becomes an external EU border after Brexit).
This latest insistence of linking a (much needed for UK business) transitional period to a final trading deal means that businesses cannot be sure that there will be a transition, despite assurances from the Chancellor that he “was confident” that one would be outlined by the end of the year.
It would seem that all that the Florence speech really achieved was to put Michael Bloomberg in the running for the wisest comment of 2017 awards…