I can't recall how many times I have heard the government and Brexiteers talk about "frictionless trade" with the EU continuing after Brexit. It has become an article of faith and was, I believe, the basis of the assurances given to Nissan and other car manufacturers to convince them to remain in he UK. But how this was to be agreed was always a mystery. Now Brexit Central - the lobbying site for those who want to see us leave the EU - has an item that for the first time concedes what many remainers have always known. That it is simply impossible.
Hugh Benner deputy editor of Brexit Central (HERE) says in his article:
The problem with the ‘no deal’ plans set out by the Treasury in the customs paper is that the “contingency scenario” they describe sounds less like a ‘no deal’ Brexit than it simply sounds like… Brexit. For instance, the remarkable line that:
“In a contingency scenario where an interim period cannot be agreed, customs declarations would be required for UK-EU trade once the UK leaves the EU.”
seems almost to wilfully ignore the fact that customs controls of some form, however smooth and streamlined, will be required whether there is a deal or not, not just in the ‘no deal’ contingency scenario. This is a simple fact of Brexit.
He admits that we will have to erect barriers between ourselves and the destination of 70% of our exports in the hope that we can dismantle barriers between ourselves and where the other 30% of our exports go. This is sheer lunacy but he does not seem to see it.
