Sunday, February 02, 2020
Has Brexit started to unravel already?
If we were to pay any notice to all the noise and divisive celebrations on the pro-Brexit side of the argument, we could only conclude that the UK has already left the European Union and that we are set on course for some sort of nirvana. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact we are in the very early days of a transition period, still a member of the single market, still enjoying all the advantages of being in the EU (apart from being at the table when key decisions on our future are made), and still benefitting from free movement within the EU borders.
The real crunch comes on 1 January 2021, when that transition ends, and we had better hope that Boris Johnson has managed to fulfil his promise of having negotiated a trade deal by then, or we really will start to feel the effects of leaving.
So, no, Brexiteers, predictions of doom and gloom have not come true. That is because we are in the transition period. But already there are signs of the whole process unravelling.
The most disturbing sign is the re-emergence of Brexit-related racism. As the Guardian reports, police were called after a poster telling residents of a block of flats “we do not tolerate” people speaking languages other than English and bearing the title “Happy Brexit Day”, was reportedly found stuck to fire doors in Winchester Tower in Norwich on Friday morning. The discovery came hours before the UK officially left the European Union at 11pm later that day.
The paper adds that, addressing Winchester Tower residents, it said the “Queens (sic) English is the spoken tongue here” and suggests that people wanting to speak a language other than English should leave the country.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Guardian it is reported that the EU will back Spain over its territorial claims to Gibraltar in the next phase of Brexit negotiations by giving Madrid the power to exclude the British overseas territory from any trade deal struck with Brussels.
The paper says that it has learned that the Spanish government has insisted on reference to the Rock in the EU’s opening negotiating position, which will be published in draft form on Monday:
Boris Johnson will be presented with the choice of reaching agreement with the Spaniards about Gibraltar’s future or exposing its citizens to economic peril by pushing it outside any EU-UK trade deal.
“They have in principle asked that the new relationship not apply to Gibraltar without the explicit consent of Spain, which will only be given if the bilateral talks with Spain and the UK over the rock are resolved,” a senior EU diplomat said.
The development highlights the pitfalls Downing Street faces as it moves into negotiations on the future relationship with Brussels. The UK is now a “third country” to the EU after it formally withdrew at midnight central European time on Friday.
British sovereignty over Gibraltar was formalised by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 but Spain has always bristled at the idea of UK ownership.
As an EU member state, the UK had been able to resist Spanish claims over the territory but Madrid will now have the full support of the other 26 countries in the bloc.
At the same time Boris Johnson's deal with the EU that led to Friday's departure, is also starting to unravel. It is not as watertight as the Prime Minister claimed at the time.
The Telegraph reports that Boris Johnson has become "privately infuriated" with what he sees as the EU's attempts to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal. They add that the Prime Minister believes Brussels has unilaterally been "changing the terms" of the deal he agreed last year, when both sides set out to work towards an ambitious and deep trade agreement.
Don't say we didn't warn him. Now if only the UK had a voice within Europe to better influence these decisions. Oh wait....
In fact we are in the very early days of a transition period, still a member of the single market, still enjoying all the advantages of being in the EU (apart from being at the table when key decisions on our future are made), and still benefitting from free movement within the EU borders.
The real crunch comes on 1 January 2021, when that transition ends, and we had better hope that Boris Johnson has managed to fulfil his promise of having negotiated a trade deal by then, or we really will start to feel the effects of leaving.
So, no, Brexiteers, predictions of doom and gloom have not come true. That is because we are in the transition period. But already there are signs of the whole process unravelling.
The most disturbing sign is the re-emergence of Brexit-related racism. As the Guardian reports, police were called after a poster telling residents of a block of flats “we do not tolerate” people speaking languages other than English and bearing the title “Happy Brexit Day”, was reportedly found stuck to fire doors in Winchester Tower in Norwich on Friday morning. The discovery came hours before the UK officially left the European Union at 11pm later that day.
The paper adds that, addressing Winchester Tower residents, it said the “Queens (sic) English is the spoken tongue here” and suggests that people wanting to speak a language other than English should leave the country.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Guardian it is reported that the EU will back Spain over its territorial claims to Gibraltar in the next phase of Brexit negotiations by giving Madrid the power to exclude the British overseas territory from any trade deal struck with Brussels.
The paper says that it has learned that the Spanish government has insisted on reference to the Rock in the EU’s opening negotiating position, which will be published in draft form on Monday:
Boris Johnson will be presented with the choice of reaching agreement with the Spaniards about Gibraltar’s future or exposing its citizens to economic peril by pushing it outside any EU-UK trade deal.
“They have in principle asked that the new relationship not apply to Gibraltar without the explicit consent of Spain, which will only be given if the bilateral talks with Spain and the UK over the rock are resolved,” a senior EU diplomat said.
The development highlights the pitfalls Downing Street faces as it moves into negotiations on the future relationship with Brussels. The UK is now a “third country” to the EU after it formally withdrew at midnight central European time on Friday.
British sovereignty over Gibraltar was formalised by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 but Spain has always bristled at the idea of UK ownership.
As an EU member state, the UK had been able to resist Spanish claims over the territory but Madrid will now have the full support of the other 26 countries in the bloc.
At the same time Boris Johnson's deal with the EU that led to Friday's departure, is also starting to unravel. It is not as watertight as the Prime Minister claimed at the time.
The Telegraph reports that Boris Johnson has become "privately infuriated" with what he sees as the EU's attempts to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal. They add that the Prime Minister believes Brussels has unilaterally been "changing the terms" of the deal he agreed last year, when both sides set out to work towards an ambitious and deep trade agreement.
Don't say we didn't warn him. Now if only the UK had a voice within Europe to better influence these decisions. Oh wait....
