We are just a few days short of the first anniversary of the referendum. Talks are scheduled to begin on Monday 19th June. We have taken a year to get ourselves into a position where we are supposed to be ready. But there is turmoil in the DEXEU, the department responsible for our exit (HERE) and the EU are said to be surprised they have not yet received any position papers from us (HERE). The two year time scale was always thought to be tight even for a withdrawal agreement.
We have wasted three months and we want to include a free trade agreement as well.
When I think back to last June there were plenty of leave voters who seemed to think we could get out of the EU more or less overnight. Others thought Article 50 could at least be invoked straightaway. Perhaps the sheer enormity of what is being undertaken is slowly sinking in.
I think this may be partly behind the departure of several senior figures in DEXEU. Could it be that the keen brexiteers are being confronted with reality when they are faced with expert advice? The Treasury is known to retain all the scepticism about Brexit they had before the vote. And gathering information from industry and commerce will presumably show most companies are actually in favour of the EU and don't share the brexiteers visceral hatred of European regulations. In fact they are generally welcomed (HERE).
If I believed something passionately for years and years and then met experts who carefully explained that my belief was totally wrong, I might be having second thoughts.
