So the two much trumpeted meetings of the so called War Cabinet, the cabinet sub-committee of senior ministers trying to work out what sort of Brexit they want, failed once again to agree. This is because half of them want to leave the EU without an agreement, cut adrift from everything EU and go WTO. The other half believe such a course is a folly from which the UK would never recover and would trigger a slow decline. Their case is bolstered by the fact that it was the because we were in a decline, having failed to match the unexpected post WWII boom in the economies of France, Germany and Italy, which drove us to join them in the Common Market in the first place. Meanwhile the hard Brexiteers waffle on about a golden age without explaining one single tangible advantage it will bring and to whom.
So the hapless May, lacking the courage to cut adrift from the hard Brexiteers, led her ministers on a continuing can kicking exercise down a road to a destination, which they all very well know cannot be reached. This is the notion of leaving both the customs union and single market, whilst enjoying open borders and frictionless trade with the EU of which we cease to be a member, yet without acceding to the rulings of the ECJ and without the four freedoms of movement of capital, goods, services and people.
Such a deal is not available and never has been. For the EU the Union is not about trade and trade will never be given priority over the integrity of the political union. It is the political union and its guarantee of the four freedoms which has brought peace and harmony to a continent torn by near continuous fighting since the fall of Rome. Trade is the extra benefit, but to enjoy it free of tariffs and borders, you have to accept all the political consequences.
For some reason the Tory government is unable to get its split head around that. Ever in hope of Bavarian car makers demanding the EU to do GB’s bidding, they were yesterday faced down by UK Japanese car makers saying that if it is a hard Brexit, they’re off. Wow.