Andrea Leadsom says the white paper is the UK's "final offer" (HERE). It's surprising because it's also our first and opening offer. It will not go down well in Brussels where they read all this stuff very carefully. The bizarre thing is that Mrs Leadsom says unless they accept it we'll walk away without a deal. Bizarre, because today the IMF have warned that a no deal exit could cost the EU 1.5% of GDP (HERE).
The cost to Ireland is said to be 4% of GDP but the cost to the UK is not given although we know it will be even higher.
The EU has already said they won't negotiate under threat, which is what Leadsom's warning is, but it's so ridiculously empty as to be no threat at all.
In any case who would negotiate by making demands about access and cooperation that we clearly need badly and like a spoilt child say unless we get all of it we won't have any of it.
We will be the EU's largest export market after Brexit but that only gives leverage if you have alternative suppliers that you can turn to. EU based companies supply about half of the parts that go into UK built cars, growers and food processors provide 30% of the food we eat. Unless we redesign or re-engineer cars built in the UK we will still need EU suppliers for a long time, probably for ever. We could grow more food but not overnight, it would take years and years.
We will be the EU's largest export market after Brexit but that only gives leverage if you have alternative suppliers that you can turn to. EU based companies supply about half of the parts that go into UK built cars, growers and food processors provide 30% of the food we eat. Unless we redesign or re-engineer cars built in the UK we will still need EU suppliers for a long time, probably for ever. We could grow more food but not overnight, it would take years and years.
We shall see how "final" our offer is.
