Boris Johnson has gone in all guns blazing against Theresa May today, with a 4,600-word column in The Telegraph. But with only six months to go before we are supposed to quit the EU, Johnson’s six-point plan for a “better Brexit” is full of holes.
by Luke Lythgoe | 28.09.2018
- “Chuck Chequers.” Fine, but May’s Chequers proposal was already killed off by the EU in Salzburg (though May won’t admit it). And Johnson doesn’t have a viable replacement.
- Ditch the Irish “backstop”. The EU probably wouldn’t accept scrapping their Irish insurance policy to keep the border open even if Johnson had a workable proposal. He doesn’t. He’s still relying on “checks away from the border”. That means physical border infrastructure and a harder border than today. It goes against what has already been agreed, and would trample over the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.
- “SuperCanada-style free trade agreement”. Presumably the “super” bit refers to a super amount of cherry-picking, which the EU will not tolerate as it undermines the single market and the EU project. In his article, Johnson demands no free movement, no role for the ECJ and that the EU accepts UK regulations. But he still wants “extensive provisions on services” and “smoothness” for our supply chains. This is a fantasy wishlist, and precisely what a free trade agreement outside the single market cannot deliver.
- Investing in border technology and staff. We will, of course, have to do this if Brexit happens. Think how better that money could be spent on other public services.
- Accelerate no-deal preparations and end “Project Fear”. Johnson is worryingly casual about crashing out of the EU with no deal, referring to “banal questions of bureaucratic procedure” and arguing we used to trade smoothly with France and Germany before. That was 45 years ago: complex legal frameworks and much smoother, integrated supply lines now exist. You don’t just wrench yourself out of those without causing massive collateral damage.
- Start negotiating free trade deals with other countries straight after Brexit. Has Johnson forgotten that we already have deals with over 65 countries – including, yes, Canada – thanks to our EU membership? We’ll have to renegotiate those just to get back to first base. And doesn’t he realise that we risk being bullied by America and China as we try to agree pacts with them – something they can’t do to the EU because its economy is bigger than theirs?
Dubbing May’s strategy a “moral and intellectual humiliation”, Johnson – with the backing of other leading Brexiters – is laying out his stall two days ahead of Conservative Party Conference. It looks like that event will be devoid of answers: no answers from May on the main stage, and nothing from the Brexiters on the fringe.
Don’t worry though, there will be grown-up voices at conference. Conservatives for a People’s Vote are holding their own rally on Monday.
The last train for a so-called “better Brexit” has long since left the station. What is on offer are Brexits that leave people asking “what’s the point”, “what’s the price” – or a blindfold deal where we don’t know the answers until too late. Politicians like Johnson can’t fix this – only you can sort this out: demand a People’s Vote.
