brexit’s done
A deal is done. Having been likened to a new-born searching for a nipple, Boris Johnson has defied this critic and got Brexit done. And remainers must accept that we’ve now, once and for all, left the European Union. For the sake of the youth of today, and of the future, I know I have to but I can’t do so easily and ‘told you’ will always only be a moment’s thought from my mind. And my lips. Once the devilish detail is ratified by both sides it will come into force with immediate effect and following my digestion of the two-thousand page document (I read it so you wouldn’t have to) here are what I consider the major elements of the four-and-a-half-year process:
- Both we and the EU will have tariff-free and quota free access to each other’s market.
- UK producers and manufacturers have to comply with EU standards and both sides have agreed upon a minimum level of environmental, social and labour standards. Any perceived ‘dragging of feet’ can, following an arbitraged decision within thirty days, be penalised with the imposition of tariffs.
- UK nationals no longer have the freedom to work, study or live in the EU and visas will be required for stays of over ninety days. Specialist staff seconded to the EU can stay for up to three years but there will be no automatic recognition for the professional qualifications of doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists etc.
- The UK will leave the common fisheries policy and 25% of the EU’s share of the catch quota (E850m) will be phased out over the next five-and-a-half years. EU vessels that fish six-twelve miles from the British coastline will to continue do so during this extended transition period.
- Following the signing of a temporary agreement, haulage will be permitted to fly and land in the EU and lorry-cargo will be allowed to continue to operate without any immediate restraint.
- By paying an associate fee for seven years we will remain in the majority of the EU’s science programmes. However, we’re out of Erasmus university exchange programme.
- The UK will no longer participate in the European Arrest Warrant System or be a full member of Europol or Eurojust but will have access to a shared database of stolen goods and missing people.
- The UK will initiate its own subsidy and state aid body outside of EU control. However, this has to respect the key principles of the treaty and both parties can, via an EU/UK governance committee, enforce remedial measures if either side are viewed as not upholding these shared principles.
No, really. That’s it. So, from all of this it’s obvious that Brexit was not an economic project. Leaving the EU was an emotionally driven political declaration. Put simply, Brexit was about ceasing to be a member of the European Union. It was about providing Priti Patel the opportunity to build a giant wave machine in the English channel and process any asylum seekers who subsequently made the journey on a South Atlantic volcanic outcrop. Or on decommissioned oil rigs in the North Sea. We have opted out of an economically-driven free-trade entity because ‘sovereignty’ and independence are what really matters in Brexitland and it’s ironic that all trade-deals, including this one, will always involve the necessary compromise of agreement. The fall-out from this particular gambit within our economy, society and the larger union remains to be seen but I feel the original decision will never cease to divide our country.
And for the record, 52% of the population did not vote for it. It was 37% of the electorate, which represents less than a third of the adults within the country. Just saying…
