We will not have a new customs regime in place by December 2020, according to a secret report given to the cabinet this week. So says The Sunday Times yesterday HERE. It would frankly surprise me if we were ready for anything. We are making no preparations as far as I can see and our record in delivering big IT systems on time is utterly lamentable even without a deadline.
And in one of those coincidences that Brexit seems to produce regularly, our old mucker Jacob Rees-Mogg has written a piece for The Telegraph HERE in which he claims people are saying we have to decide if we're going to be a serious country or a joke.
Well, I think Brexit and now this cabinet report shows clearly the decision has already been made for us.
We are going to be a joke.
Rees-Mogg begins his sermon with this:
Throughout the long and drawn-out process of leaving the EU, the most baffling thing has been how some seem to regard the pronouncements of that wondrous body, the European Commission. For lo, these are holy writ.
Oddly, when Pierre Moscovici, the EU commissioner told us in 2016 that 90% of the world's growth would come from outside the EU by 2020, this was readily accepted by Brexiteers as holy writ - even by Rees-Mogg himself.
And as if to confirm we will not be ready, the Brexit Select Committee published its majority report yesterday (HERE) giving its considered opinion. They say we probably won't be ready and should ask for an extension to the two year Article 50 period.
And as if to confirm we will not be ready, the Brexit Select Committee published its majority report yesterday (HERE) giving its considered opinion. They say we probably won't be ready and should ask for an extension to the two year Article 50 period.
