Brexit: hard labour

19/09/2016

On the other hand, Foreign Secretary Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis are said to want a "clean break". The Foreign Secretary has endorsed a new cross-party campaign called Change Britain calling for a "hard Brexit". Meanwhile, an unnamed official has the "three Brexiteers" calling this a "much bolder strategy". Philip Hammond is warning of the dangers of "going too far".

Anonymous briefing is now beginning to typify the coverage of this phase of Brexit, so we have to be content for further details from "a minister close to the cabinet negotiations". He (or she) says that while Mr Hammond is willing to make the case for some controls on EU migration he is "not afraid to highlight the risks to the economy of Brexit".

Ministerial colleagues say the Chancellor has the confidence of Theresa May and sets out his concerns about the impact of Brexit in "a very factual way".

However, another group called "Leave Means Leave" has emerged, backed by Tory MPs including Dominic Raab and Owen Paterson. The group is chaired by Richard Tice, a man who excels at wishful thinking, and is also pushing for a "hard Brexit", including leaving the Single Market and ending free movement.

This represents something of a turn round for Mr Paterson who, in his last major speech on the EU was saying that we need, therefore, to pick a proven, off-the-shelf plan. Our participation in the Single Market, he said, "is fundamental to protecting the UK's economic position", which brought us to "the only realistic option" – to stay within the EEA agreement.

The EEA, said Paterson, "is tailor made for this purpose and can be adopted by joining EFTA first. This becomes the 'Norway option'. We have already seen that Norway has more influence in international decision-making than we do as an EU Member State. Using the EEA ensures full access to the Single Market and provides immediate cover for leaving the political arrangements of the EU".

Now Paterson has joined the "lunatic fringe", arguing that Britain must "leave the world’s least successful economic zone – the single market". His group recommends that if no deal can be done the UK should leave the EU without a trade deal and rely on the WTO option while free trade deals are negotiated with other countries.

Predictably, John Mills is supporting the group. It is well within his comfort zone, churning out the usual mantras and arguing that "no deal is better than a bad deal". Yet, as always, these people never bother to set out the consequences of their preferred actions. They live in permanent denial.

Even then, that is not the end of it. Tice, Mills, Paterson, et al, it appears, will soon to be joined by Arron Banks who is expected to launch a grassroots pressure group to push for a hard Brexit. This, apparently, is inspired by Momentum, the Labour-supporting movement that backs Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

One really does wonder what is it that makes the prospect of destroying our trade and crashing our economy so attractive, and why so many people are so anxious to waste their time (and ours) pursuing this futile path.

Fortunately, since Hammond has the confidence of Mrs May, so she is unlikely to be listening. Reality will be dictating the agenda, and no sane Prime Minister can preside over the something as ill-considered as a "hard Brexit".

For some, it is much easier to make silly noises but it is actually going to take a great deal of effort and intelligence to organise a successful Brexit. Hard labour, rather than a "hard Brexit" is called for, and despite the best efforts of the "lunatic fringe", that is what we're probably going to get.