The Telegraph had an article by David Davis last night with the optimistic title: How we will deliver the best Brexit in 2018 - unfortunately when clicking on the link you get error message 404 - page not found (HERE). So, apart from the best Brexit being an oxymoron, the page describing it has apparently been lost. It's obviously a bit like the excruciatingly detailed impact assessments.
It is telling that this eventually became available but behind a paywall so only Telegraph readers are apparently allowed to know the thoughts of Chairman Davis. You can read the whole article for free HERE.
You will find that it's the usual delusional rubbish from Davis. He tell us:
"Donald Tusk has approved an immediate start to initial discussions on the future relationship", although he concedes that the "EU guidelines will not be agreed until March, when Michel Barnier and his team will be able to confirm their positions".
He makes it sound like it is the EU who are struggling to reach an agreed position. But Donald Tusk and the Commission see things rather differently. Mr Tusk said in December that it was "time for internal EU27 preparations" and also "exploratory contacts with the UK, to get more clarity on their vision". In other words he hasn't "approved" an immediate start to initial discussions at all and he is waiting for us to clarify our position, something they have been asking us to do for eighteen months!
But then Davis goes on to contradict himself (not unusual for him) by saying, "The process for transitioning into the new arrangements should be agreed early on, given that each side's positions are well known".
So, we expect the EU to confirm their position while they call on us to get more clarity on our's. These are the positions that are "well known" according to Davis!
He is also misleading Telegraph readers, as Brexiteers have been doing for years, by implying that substantive talks will be starting immediately when they will not begin until after March and will only cover a political declaration anyway. The detailed stuff won't be done until after we have left in March 2019.
He also continues the delusional thinking about our position in Europe. Davis says it would be inconsistent to have a situation where we are outside the EU but bound by its every rule and regulation. Instead, he says, "we will work to create an economic relationship that delivers for the whole of Europe and is right for the unique circumstances of the UK".
It is as if we are still a world power with the ability to control Europe's destiny.
And we are still in the having cake and eating it phase. Davis wants to maintain what we have but also gain the freedom to do as we wish. He is apparently seeking "minimum additional barriers or friction" but says that "our guiding principle should be the maintenance of what we already have".
For decades, he says, "we have been happy to let European bodies carry out the assessments that ensure products like these - from cars to medical devices — are fit to go to market in the United Kingdom. Given the level of trust we place in each other's institutions I see no reason why, with the right relationship, such mutual recognition should not continue after we leave".
He wants to leave the single market, become a third country, but continue to have the same access to the single market that we enjoyed while we were a member. He doesn't get the idea that these are mutually exclusive. We can have one or the other, not both.
And amazingly he says, "Whether it’s the Prime Minister’s commitments to workers rights, or Michael Gove’s determination to uphold animal welfare standards, this Government believes the UK’s future lies in a race to the top in global standards". He does not seem to realise we could have had higher standards at any time. The EU sets minimum standards, not maximums.
And in a final piece of chutzpah, he says that in future he does not "believe the strength of this cooperation needs change because we [are] leaving the European Union, so long as it is understood that this involves working together, not simply rule taking. These principles can be applied to services trade too". The EU will no doubt say this is what we've been doing for forty four years!
