So you think you can #Brexit? UK struggling to book any results
The UK government decided to enact the article 50 procedure, triggering the Brexit, earlier this year with no actual plan of attack in place. The results of this… ‘strategy’ are now showing. Mostly through their absence.
On the one hand, the UK is likely to strike a bargain with the EU for an extension of the Brexit-negotiations. This will most likely mean an extension of the current agreements after the UK officially leaves the EU up until the point when both of them manage to hammer out a new trade agreement. In other words: Britain will, for all practical purposes, be the equivalent of an EU member. Just one without a vote at the table.
It’s either that, or the cliff-edge Brexit variant. Nobody really wants that, tough talk aside, and the EU didn’t want a Brexit to begin with, so they’re in no hurry to come to an agreement to alter that. Brexit is brexit, except maybe not so much. It’s as though you’re retired and start using up you’re pension, yet you still come to work every day until you and your boss agree to a deal about who’s going to do your work. The work your boss doesn’t want you to stop doing.
The Japanese are crazy, but not that crazy
In the mean time Theresa May is trying to persuade the Japanese to broker a copy of the nearly-finished free trade agreement with the EU. And although Japan is a big investor in the UK, that’s mostly because they’re, that’s right, in the EU. So the Japanese should be interested. If May can guarantee they’ll still have access to the EU, of course.
Kind of a hard thing to do, if you’re working on no longer being part of the EU. No wonder the BBC “Reality Check” figures that May may find it hard to come home with anything substantial after her Japan trip. Japan may be home to some of the weirdest cultural shit on earth, but they’re not this crazy.
Stupidilly McStupid
All in all, it doesn’t look like the Brexiteers are getting a break anytime soon. And may we say it’s really not all that surprising? Diving into one of the most complicated negotiations of all time with no strategy, no clear vision of what is to come and no real consensus on anything was stupid enough. Calling for a general election and losing the majority in government as a result of this was even more stupid. So it’s no wonder Britain is drawing the short straw on so many fronts. We’re honestly surprised nobody’s started looking for a way out of this mess yet.