Brexit... delusions wrapped in illusions?Archived Message
Posted by dovetailjoint on April 2, 2019, 2:17 pm
Jeremy Hunt said today that staying within the customs union wasn't 'really Brexit.' Only what Hunt calls 'real Brexit' from the UK's perspective, was never going to be offered by the rest of the European Union. It was an outcome that wasn't going to happen, an impossible outcome, because 'real Brexit' would undermine central core values and principles, fundamentals the EU is based on. So, the British position from the beginning was untenable and May's tactics and strategy for negotiating fatally flawed; as is self-evident now.
The idea of 'having your cake and eating it' was never going to fly in Europe. Then the threat to 'cut off one's nose to spite one's face' was doomed too. It's remarkable how long its taken people in the UK to realise this.
If one is going to succeed in negotiating with the EU one needs a position that makes logical sense internally, at the very least; and one needs really subtle, talented and skilled negotiators at the very top of their game, otherwise the EU side will eat them for breakfast, which is precisely what's happened. I don't think anyone would venture that the current leadership of the Tory Party is subtle, skilled or talented, especially not May, who seems completely out of her depth.
Farrage is supposed to have told the EU negotiators that without the UK the EU was finished and would fall apart. This is precisely the outcome the EU is determined to avoid at all costs, even if that means a hard Brexit, with all the pain that'll bring to the UK, and the EU.
I still don't think people in the UK appreciate how incredibly damaging this entire Brexit fiasco has been and how much respect and influence the UK has voluntarily thrown away, for nothing in return.