It looks like May is going to get nothing from the EU after her speech to the 27 yesterday evening (HERE). The Times is apparently reporting this morning that David Davis is preparing to make an "upbeat presentation to cabinet" on the no deal scenario. If true, this will be a significant and absolutely disastrous upping of the ante. Making serious plans to exit in March 2019 will be cheered to the rafters by Brexiteers but greeted with horror by business and the banks.
Lloyd blankfein the CEO of Goldman Sachs tweeted today (HERE) that he was going to be spending more time in Frankfurt, which most commentators took to mean he would soon be moving operations to the German financial capital. If it looks like we are headed for a hard Brexit other fund managers will follow and manufacturers in the car industry and those with a high level of cross border trade will be next. Eighteen months is not long to acquire facilities, recruit people, obtain regulatory approvals and so on. Companies cannot afford to wait in the hope we get a deal at the last minute.
I assume now that the government has set it's face against making any more concessions to force the EU to soften their stance, it will be business that may help to make people appreciate the difficulty we are in. If the sheer cost, scale, complexity and risk involved in Brexit is driven home by businesses announcing moves to relocate perhaps more people might come to their senses.
Amazingly, we are told this morning that the prime minister pleaded with EU leaders to help her with a deal she can sell to the British people (HERE). This is the same people who voted to leave the EU! The irony of it. UK officials in briefings apparently talked of the "difficult backdrop" at home, referring to the foam-at-the-mouth Brexiteers who cannot wait for the cliff edge to arrive.
Of course, we don't know precisely what was said, only those present know the truth, but it sounds about right. We should have no sympathy. She is in a trap that she herself has created. Unable to be honest with people and preventing her own cabinet from reaching a common position for fear of a huge split in the party, we are now reaching the point where the hard decisions, put off for so long, will have to finally be faced.
But instead of being made in a calm, measured and thoughtful way, decisions will be reached in a panic with time running out. There is more insanity to come I fear.
"If there is any truth in May’s mantra, then it is the other way around: the EU’s interests may be better served by a no-deal divorce than by an agreement that puts its foundations at risk if Britain gets an “a la carte” Brexit. For the EU, no deal would in this case be better than a bad deal. And that’s not a bluff".
This is blindingly obvious to everyone except Brexiteers.
There is an article by a German MEP in The Guardian (HERE) that hits the nail on the head with this rebuttal of the no deal is better than a bad deal idea. He argues this is true, but for the EU, not us.
"If there is any truth in May’s mantra, then it is the other way around: the EU’s interests may be better served by a no-deal divorce than by an agreement that puts its foundations at risk if Britain gets an “a la carte” Brexit. For the EU, no deal would in this case be better than a bad deal. And that’s not a bluff".
This is blindingly obvious to everyone except Brexiteers.
