Looking at the position and technical papers published by this government I have noted many times how often they begin with a preamble about how the UK wants a deep and special partnership with the EU, pointing to all the reasons why cooperation in every field should continue because it's in our mutual interest and so on. This is in part driven by the Brexiteers fantasy that Britain is still a significant world power harking back a century and a half to when the empire covered great swathes of the globe.
It ignores our more or less continuous decline beginning around 1880 or so. Or to the fact that our wealth in those days was created out of keeping other nations like India under occupation and treating the inhabitants as inferiors to be exploited. Orwell called the empire a captive market for British goods and so it was.
Britain was effectively at both ends of the transactions. We sold manufactured goods to the natives and paid for it by selling their raw materials cheaply to our own manufacturers in Britain. Any country could have done it. It was a guaranteed way of succeeding. When the empire declined the illusion that we were some sort of global manufacturing megalith disappeared with it. We were exposed to genuine market forces and demonstrated that we couldn't compete at anything. Shipbuilding, hosiery, motor cycles, cars , white goods, and plenty of others that have declined to a small fraction of what they once were.
As Barnier noted last week there seems to be a kind of nostalgia in the government for EU institutions as well as the single market. The position papers are asking for a lot of associate memberships or close relationships where we will be able to influence European affairs. The Labour party even has an official policy of being outside the EU customs union but able to influence EU trade deals. The fantasies are contagious it seems.
The Brexiteers fundamentally misunderstand the EU. Having referred to it so many times as a superstate, they actually think it is. What they want is for the EU 27 to agree a common position on a cross border matter, perhaps on the environment or cyber crime or foreign policy, and then come and discuss it with the UK as if we are an equal partner ranking alongside the bloc itself. The UK would then, in this fantasy world, be able to change the EU's common position to our advantage or to prevent a disadvantage to our national interests. This would put us in a far better position post Brexit than we have now, able to influence the EU without being in it. The EU are no doubt wise to this.
Suffice it to say it will never happen. Bojo, again in his leaked comments, quotes William Hague who wanted us to be in Europe but not run by Europe. But Johnson thinks there is a danger we will be OUT of Europe but still run by it. I have news for him. We will be run by Europe after Brexit, at least as far as those cross border issues are concerned and probably for a lot of our standards as well. This is what he was warned about before the vote but it was dismissed as talking the country down.
The world is made up of powerful nations and blocs. The USA, China and the EU, in that order. After Brexit we will not be part of any of them but we will be unable to isolate ourselves from their influence. This is simply a fact. And since the EU is our closest neighbour they will have the greatest influence - this is utterly inevitable. We will be OUT of Europe, but run be Europe.
