he government’s Brexit policy is so chaotic that it is hiding from the voters the results of its own analysis, which predicts a hit to the economy of up to 8% over the next 15 years. Asked why the prime minister was not publishing the study, which has now leaked, a government source told BuzzFeed News: “Because it’s embarrassing.”
But it’s not just the government’s long-range plans that will be destructive. Its policy for stopping the economy falling off a cliff if we quit the EU next March, a transition of about two years when nothing much changes, is also in a mess.
As the EU made clear in its negotiating guidelines on Monday, we will have to follow all the club’s rules during this stopgap period without any say on them. We’ll even have to follow new regulations. No wonder Tory Brexiters are in a tizzy. No wonder Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson say this would turn us into a “vassal state”.
But it’s not just the Brextremists who are worried. Patriotic pro-Europeans are also concerned that we would be swapping our current position, where we are one of the most influential players in Europe, for that of a rule-taker. We would lose our votes in the council of ministers, our MEPs, our commissioner and our judge on the European court of justice. That’s losing, not taking back control.
The government is hoping to find a way of managing things if a new rule is imposed against our interests. But there’s little chance of the EU agreeing to that. In the end, as on all other issues so far in the Brexit talks, our hapless prime minister will probably come to heel.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
