Raab is getting rattled I think. In the event of no deal and after March 29th next year when we cease to be a member of the EU, he is suggesting that France might begin treating us as if we aren't a member of the EU. How dare they? He says we could use "more amenable" ports in other countries that presumably, he thinks will continue to treat us an EU member. It's not clear which "other countries" he has in mind. Perhaps Chile or Ethiopia? Although if you've got a shipment for Baden-Baden that might not help very much.
"We also need to prepare for the worst case scenario where the authorities at Calais are deliberately directing a go-slow approach by supporting a diversion of the flow to more amenable ports in other countries".
I think even the BBC were puzzled by his words because they go on to helpfully explain:
"At present, the UK's membership of the EU single market and the customs union allows for the free movement of goods, people and services around Europe. But the UK government has said it is leaving both of these arrangements as part of Brexit".
Why Raab thinks we can leave the EU, the single market and the customs union and not experience delays in Calais - as well as every other port of entry into the EU - is again not clear, at least to me. It's the bizarre world of the Brexiteer isn't it?
Brexit is a certain return to the delays and border checks that existed prior to 1992 when the single market was created and this is official government policy, enacting the will of the people. Raab is a member of the government but seems unsure of what its policy is.
In spite of repeated warnings that Brexit would add friction to trade with our largest market, warnings that go back well before the referendum, he still harbours the expectation that everything will remain exactly as it was in May 2016. It won't. Blaming the French for "deliberately directing a go-slow approach" (aka applying EU law and the Common Commercial Policy) might convince Daily Express readers but we know the truth don't we?
Raab also told MPs in the Commons (HERE): "There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engage in a deliberately intransigent approach," for which read "following the rules, standing by the founding principles of the EU and looking after their best interests". Alternatively, by intransigent he might mean the EU asking us to keep to the backstop commitments the prime minister made last December, which she has steadfastly refused to do.
If all this is just a lot of machismo intended to force a change of tack by Brussels it will demonstrate he still doesn't understand the EU. It can only end badly.
Britain has had a bad habit of forcing smaller and weaker countries to do things they don't want to. We may be about to find out what it's like to be on the receiving end.
Raab also told MPs in the Commons (HERE): "There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engage in a deliberately intransigent approach," for which read "following the rules, standing by the founding principles of the EU and looking after their best interests". Alternatively, by intransigent he might mean the EU asking us to keep to the backstop commitments the prime minister made last December, which she has steadfastly refused to do.
If all this is just a lot of machismo intended to force a change of tack by Brussels it will demonstrate he still doesn't understand the EU. It can only end badly.
Britain has had a bad habit of forcing smaller and weaker countries to do things they don't want to. We may be about to find out what it's like to be on the receiving end.
