There is a warning to the government not to play "chicken" with the British economy (HERE). It comes from Catherine McGuinness, policy chairwoman at the City of London Corporation, but I'm afraid it's far too late. The Conservative party is essentially doing just that. The no deal threat is far more serious for the UK yet Brexiteers persist in using it to put pressure on the EU, daring them to blink first. We know they are not going to blink and it is just making business very nervous, like passengers in a car being driven erratically at high speed by a driver you suspect is not completely rational.
Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of London First, said: “Business is clear about what’s best for the country: a deal that preserves the benefits of the single market and keeps borders open for trade and goods. Crashing out is the worst possible scenario, and Canada-plus is not a credible option given our integrated supply chains.”
The irony of it is that this game of chicken is an attempt to get back what we voted to lose in June 2016. Insane or what?
At last year's party conference Davis (he was still DEXEU Secretary at the time) told delegates that with Brexit, " the prizes for success are enormous. As are the consequences of failure" (HERE). This looks remarkably like a huge gamble, which is what playing chicken is. I don't recall any Brexiteer putting it in those terms at all before the referendum. Whoever said the consequences of failure are "enormous"? Rees-Mogg is not at all unhappy about failing to reach an agreement. Doesn't he talk to Davis?
This has all come about because of the government's total misreading of the EU and what was available to Brexit Britain. The lame brained Davis told us in May 2016:
"Free trade with Britain is in all their interests. This is particularly true of the most powerful leader in Europe, Angela Merkel. Her economy is dependent on exports, particularly of manufacturers, and especially of cars. Britain is the second largest and fastest growing car market in Europe.
"Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen alone are over 25% of the British market, with the UK buying one million cars from Germany every year. They cannot afford the threat being levelled at Britain, so called 'WTO terms', because they would involve a 10% levy on all car imports".
After nearly two and a half years, much of it spent in the cabinet, he now says (HERE) that “Other than Macron, Merkel is the most emphatic in Europe about us not being seen to succeed,”
Quite a change of tune, one might think. I suppose we should be grateful that he has finally seen the error in his thinking, albeit three years after everybody else.
If we then go to January 2017 this is what Davis the Brexit Secretary told Anna Soubry in The House (HERE Column 169):
"What we have come up with [ ] is the idea of a comprehensive free trade agreement and a comprehensive customs agreement that will deliver the exact same benefits as we have, but also enable my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade to go and form trade deals with the rest of the world, which is the real upside of leaving the European Union".
They actually thought they could get a free trade agreement with the EU that was equal to membership. This was always going to be impossible. But they are straining every sinew, rolling every dice and playing an utterly reckless game of chicken with the British economy to try and prove they were right. It was always bound to fail and it will. We are only a few days, six or seven weeks at most from seeing what a total failure it is.
The Tory party is still tethered to the mast of HMS Brexit and their fate is now predestined. The ship is holed and leaking badly, they cannot abandon it and cannot reach a safe port. Let us all be grateful for that.
