David Davis made a statement to the House yesterday. As usual he claimed that he had made lots of progress although no one seemed to believed him or to know what progress he was talking about. What did come over to me was the number of occasions he told MPs to wait for the outcome of the EU 27 summit on Friday. He seemed to imply that he knew something that we don't, that the EU are going to offer trade talks before the separation issues have made "sufficient progress".
If indeed the EU do soften their stance I assume it will be because we have given more concessions or assurances about the money, concessions that Mrs May and Davis himself cannot announce publicly to avoid upsetting the swivel-eyed nutters in their own party. He also said the no deal stance is a negotiating ploy - thus revealing to the other side the hollowness of the suggestion and rendering it useless, as if they didn't know it already.
Even before Davis rose from his seat to speak Reuters were reporting (HERE) that the EU had "rebuffed" the UK and were demanding more concessions.
So, if the EU keep to their hard-line, as everyone expects, one is bound to ask what was the point of May's visit on Monday? And what did Barnier and Juncker tell them? Are the British government trying to split the EU 27 and hoping to see France and Germany outvoted? This is surely out of the question. France and Germany don't want to pay more and the others are reluctant to take less. Davis suggested a lot of the 27 wanted trade talks to begin but I think they know time and the granting of a transition period is on their side.
To insult our "future partners" even more he told the House they were deliberately stringing out the negotiations in order to get more money out of us. This might play well at The Dog & Duck in Essex but in Brussels it will surely only serve to harden attitudes.
I think it is fair to say the House was divided although not altogether on party lines. Remainers were urging Davis to make sure we get a deal. They were very concerned about jobs and the economy. The Brexiteers, Bill Cash and others, were recklessly pushing the Secretary of State to leave with or without a deal so long as the ECJ didn't have jurisdiction. They don't seem to care about anything except to get out of the EU. It's completely irrational.
The EU know we want a lot, quite apart from trade. We want cooperation in a whole range of areas and although we could survive without access to many EU bodies it would be extremely hard.
