I think we know enough now to realise the Brexiteers never had a clue about how we could leave the EU. They began without a plan or an objective, campaigned without either and are still stumbling blindly onwards. But it is not only our destination that is a mystery. For some leading Brexiteers are just as ignorant of where we started from. Take this statement by Bernard Jenkins in a recent article for Conservative Home (HERE) and which no one picked him up about.
Really? He appears to think countries inside the customs union (and one presumes, the single market unless he proposes we stay in that) enjoy no advantage compared to those outside it.
Let's see how they're not disadvantaged:
- They face tariffs on their goods exports into the CU
- They face quotas on some products
- They have no influence on the regulations governing the market
- Their goods must have a minimum percentage of local content
- They face Rules of Origin declarations on exports
- They have to comply with strict EU standards over which they have no say
- Their goods face checks and delays at the border
- Some of their goods are not permitted at all
If you don't see any advantage in getting rid of these restrictions then leaving the EU may well be an obvious solution. But most companies won't see it that way. And neither would anyone with a brain cell.
