Brexit negotiations are under way but it feels like the government still don’t have a plan. A few announcements have been made in the last week or so regarding free movement, taxes and other aspects of a post-Brexit UK. Except, they haven’t always been on the same wavelength, do the government really know what they want from Brexit or are they just incompetent?
It has been over a year since the vote and only now, after the negotiations are underway, Amber Rudd has asked for an analysis on EU migration effects.
A split cabinet?
On Monday Number 10 issued a statement saying that there will be no “off-the-shelf” model for a post-Brexit transitional deal.
This directly contradicts Phillip Hammond’s statement that the UK could have a Norway style deal for up to 2 years after leaving the EU. There have been arguments over the Customs Union, with Hammond preferring a deal similar to the current arrangements, however, ‘hard-Brexiteers’ see this as the same as staying within the Customs Union.
Hammond has also recognised the need for common legal jurisdiction to underpin any UK-EU deal with the financial services. But any involvement from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would be backtracking by supporters of a hard-Brexit. Nonetheless, the government have contradicted themselves on multiple occasions and Michel Barnier has already said that the ‘clock is ticking’ for the UK, underlying the frustrations from Brussels over the UK government's incompetence over Brexit negotiations.
