The New Statesman (HERE) has an article about Labour's slowly evolving policy on the customs union but what really caught my eye was some quotes from Ed Vaizey, the former culture minister appearing on a TV programme last week.
On The Wright Stuff he apparently said the idea Brexit would be good for trade was “complete nonsense” and “fantasy land”. Adding, “The idea we’re going to strike any new deals in the next few years is rubbish and [the idea] any of these free-trade deals are going to compensate for making it more difficult to trade with Ireland or France or Germany is also rubbish.”
And asked whether his remarks would get him into trouble with the party leadership, Vaizey was dismissive. “Discipline has completely broken down in the parliamentary party so no one tells anyone off because there’s no power anywhere. It’s an atomised parliament.”
I think we may be starting to see parliament in its true colours, where MPs vote on what they believe rather than on what they're told to believe. If that is the case it would be a good outcome. We will remain in the single market and the customs union. Brexiteers can't complain that our own sovereign parliament is remote or autocratic or imposing stuff on us. It will have made a decision on behalf of the people and decided what Brexit means.
