One begins to sympathise with the EU negotiators. No matter how simply they put things there seems to be a collective need among leavers in this country to wilfully misunderstand. The Brexit bill is the current problem and Daniel Hannan (HERE) is the latest high profile leaver to perpetuate the myth that the EU is demanding, "hand us a wodge of money, and we insist that you calculate the appropriate sum!”. The EU position paper first published in draft on 29th May (HERE) makes it clear on the first page that the working paper...."contains the main principles of the EU position in this regard [the Brexit bill], to be presented to the UK as part of the negotiations under Art. 50"
It is not a demand for money. The EU simply want to know our position on the method of calculating the total. Having set out their thoughts, they are demanding we do the same. The foreign secretary told parliament the EU could "whistle" for the money and other Brexiteers like John Redwood say we don't owe a penny (HERE). Then David Davis concedes we do owe some money and we will pay what we are legally obliged to pay plus other sums where we only have a moral duty to pay. So, our position is somewhere between paying nothing and paying something. It has taken three months to get to this point! At this rate we will not arrive at an actual method of calculating the total until March 2019.
No wonder there is immense frustration on the part of the EU.
Why we cannot set something out on paper is a mystery. Last week in Brussels we apparently had a three hour power point presentation picking holes in the EU's methodology but on our own method, zilch. The only possible explanations are either a reluctance to show Brexiteers that we are indeed prepared to pay something (anything!) or to use the offer of a settlement to gain an advantage later in the negotiations.
One begins to believe the Brexiteers having got one hand on the prize they have sought for so long are going to lose it through sheer stubbornness and stupidity. We are overplaying a very weak hand.
And Daniel Hannan in the article quoted above says others have access to the single market, why can't we? This is rich coming from the man who told us (HERE) "absolutely no one is talking about threatening our place in the single market" just after the referendum.
