Originally posted by BlasterBates
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A key difference is that the Tories want to be in "a" customs arrangement that gives them complete freedom to negotiate trade deals, "cake and eat it". Labour is prepared to betray the will of the peoplecompromise.
The EU would have no problem with this, it would be the same as the deals with the Ukraine or Turkey.
That's why the Brexiteers are getting "agitated".
In the end after very complex negotiations the FTA will run to many pages, filling more than one book shelf and looking awfully like the deal with Switzerland.
The EU would have no problem with this, it would be the same as the deals with the Ukraine or Turkey.
That's why the Brexiteers are getting "agitated".
In the end after very complex negotiations the FTA will run to many pages, filling more than one book shelf and looking awfully like the deal with Switzerland.
Seems to me that there's a fairly equal measure of cake and eating it going on here, just with different points of emphasis. Corbyn wants to have "a" customs union in which he has a veto over tariffs on poor countries and those big American meanies who want to gut the pinnacle of perfection that is our long-suffering NHS, and he wants to be part of "a" single market in which all those big British meanies can be nationalized.
What's great about international treaties, though, is that meaningful votes in national parliaments aren't, er, very meaningful
. Likewise for votes in our Parliament that seek to bind a negotiating position on, say, "a" CU. So we're going to ask for the deal that May wants, whatever that might be. Your only hope for a "soft" Brexit now is May herself.In the mean time, there'll be lots of gnashing of teeth among remain ultras, but voting for a procedural amendment that backs a, er, meaningful vote, is rather different than voting down the express negotiating position of your PM, especially when it's clear that Labour has a GE in mind, not a CU. My guess is that the amendment tabled by Soubry will become a "probing amendment" and will then fall away as it becomes clear that she has the support of very few colleagues. She'll no doubt get some cover from the sea of ambiguity that remains between the "customs arrangement" (read: hard border) and "customs partnership" (read: cake/eat) outlined at Lancaster House
Or perhaps May will explicitly outline the "customs partnership" in her speech this Friday. Seems quite likely, and it should be easy to sell this to Tory remainers as "almost" a CU. They're looking for a bone, afterall. Not long to go now. Time has flown. You seem "agitated".
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