Sometimes it is little wonder the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he does not understand what Britain's Brexit strategy is. If these leaked reports are true, it is clear the Department for Exiting the EU is saying one thing publicly and another privately. Publicly, they want an Anglo-EU free trade deal and privately, they seem resigned to the possibility of a 'soft' Brexit.
'Completely unreasonable.'
To provide the EU with some credit, at least they know what they want from these discussions. They want Britain to pay a hefty divorce fee for leaving the trading bloc.
Yet it is clear the EU owes Britain more money than the current rebate allows for. It is doubtful Michel Barnier views it that way. It is unreasonable for them to expect the British Government to literally pay a price for choosing to leave the trading bloc. Nowhere in the 2007 Lisbon Treaty does it say that once a member state's government triggers Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the EU, that they also have to pay billions of euros in order to do so. There is no legal basis for the demand and it is completely unreasonable. Despite this, discussions over the 'divorce bill' are likely to consume a considerable period of time before negotiations over trade can commence.
It is clear that trading on World Trade Organization rules would still be beneficial to Britain.
It is a waste of time to even consider negotiating with EU politicians. The length of time it took Canada to agree a free trade agreement with the political union proves this. The possibility of 'no deal' looks increasingly likely.
