As far as I can see no one believes there will be a trade deal ready in 2019. The EU have apparently said if we want to discuss trade in parallel with withdrawal they need a years delay to prepare. This is obviously not going to happen. We have lost a year since the vote with no more clarity about what is wanted and with two years to go plus perhaps another couple of years beyond that for transitional arrangements, it will be perhaps five years or more before we are free of the EU.
The Conservatives are going for the gold medal in sheer incompetence and I for one have no faith we will exit with anything like a good deal. Meanwhile the economy seems to be on a slope heading towards zero on the x axis in the not too distant future.
Time is important for the Conservatives but they do not seem aware of it. They are so blinded by the thought of getting out of the EU they seem to have forgotten who it is being done for. It is well known that the referendum was won by predominantly older voters. When we are pronounced free of the EU shackles, the government (assuming it is still the conservatives) in 2022 will look up after years of toil at the Brexit grindstone to see a changed electorate. About 700,000 elderly people pass away each year. By 2022 around 3.5 million, many of them leave voters, will be gone.
They will be replaced by the same number of young, very pro-EU voters and an unknown number of others who will be sick and tired of the chronically underfunded public services, rising unemployment and increased taxes as European companies pull out and inward investment slumps. It will be interesting to see the approach the Tories use. Will it be - Re-elect us, we did this for your relatives who are now all dead?
