Brexit is turning out to be a lot more complicated than anyone thought. Listening to Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, it's easy to understand why.
"I had not quite understood that everything that comes to Britain has to cross the sea" explained the Brexit secretary this week.
"It's a function of the way the UK is a peculiar, geographic entity"
he explained. Lessons from history: RIchard II, Act 2 scene 1 ...
"This royal throne of Kings, this earth of majesty, this other Eden, this demi paradise, this fortress of nature, this blessed plot, this realm, this peculiar geographic entity." Yes the Brexit Secretary has realised Great Britain (not the UK) is an Island ... a sceptred Isle in fact.
"“I hadn’t quite understood the full extent of this", he said on Wednesday ... "but we are particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing. You know that bit where England is closest to France." Well now we know. The White cliffs of Dover offer a Brexit reality shock and a lorry park extending to the M25.
To be fair, Government can be difficult, often offering a steep learning curve. Karen Bradley Northern Ireland Secretary had explained, “I didn’t know that Nationalists and Unionists wouldn’t vote for each other." Well who would have thought? Someone should have explained the complexity of office before taking the job, you have to think, culture and sport may have offered a better option.
David Davies had promised the easiest deal in history. Jo Johnson now suggests "the easiest deal in history is leading to the biggest gaffe since Suez and the greatest crisis since the Second World War."
Yes Jo Johnson, transport secretary, resigned from Government this week. Brothers Johnson are united in abandoning Downing Street. It's a bit like that moment in the disaster movie. All the birds fly in one direction, the animals run from the jungle, something horrible and implausible is about to appear from the shrubbery but you are not sure exactly what that is.
It turns out to be The Prime Minister's Brexit deal. It is 99% agreed ... with husband Phillip at least. A few details still require ironing out. Taking back control appears to refer to Brussels and not to Westminster. We will stay within the customs union until we don't, then there will be a backstop.
Some matters are purely technical, how to you paint a border on the Irish Sea? How do you stop fish swimming across the Channel? A deal is close. It should all be over by Christmas, but which Christmas? The deadline is looming, business cannot afford to wait.
This week, CME Group. said it’s moving its $240 billion-a-day short-term financing market to Amsterdam from London. German ball bearings maker Schaeffler announced the closing of two of its three British plants. Surgical appliances manufacturer Steris said it plans to move its corporate base to Ireland from the U.K. Panasonic is moving to Amsterdam ...
Brexit is complicated, now they tell us ...
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