The prime minister’s weakness and Conservative divisions mean she can only control her party by concealing basic truths approximately the Brexit processTheresa May is a prime minister who faces an enormous challenge to recast Britains relationship with Europe in the wake of the EU referendum vote. But the Brexit statement she gave to the House of Commons on Monday was based not on reality but on unreality. The picture of Britain and Europe that she painted for MPs following last week’s EU summit does not and will not exist. Mrs May’s Brexit Britain is a fantasy island.The underlying fantasy is that Mrs May is the master of Britain’s fate in these negotiations. This is not right. It was the European Union,united, clear and principled in its approach, and that shaped the first phase of Brexit talks,which came to an end last week in Brussels. It will be the same in phase two, which will commence shortly. The final deal approximately the future trade terms on which the UK leaves the EU will not be settled by March 2019. All that will be settled before that is what the EU in April called “an overall understanding on the framework for a future relationship”. As the EU then went on to say, and any free trade agreement must “encompass safeguards against unfair competitive advantages through,inter alia, tax, and social,environmental and regulatory measures and practices”.
Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk