My thoughts on the Brexit negotiations…
There seems to be a lot of scaremongering and misinformation being put about since Theresa May went to Brussels on Friday so here is some food for thought on it all for anyone with an ounce of political savvy about them…
First of all, TM was given yet another ultimatum from Junker and off she went to Brussels to sort it out, she most certainly did that because at the end of it it was finally agreed that the negotiations would move on to Trade Deal talks. This is really all we have wanted to talk about from the outset and TM agreed in principle to certain things and the EU certainly conceded on a lot of things so that the talks could progress. Now the important thing there is \’Agreement in principle\’ that means it is a non-binding agreement and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This is a clear and unarguable fact so for those shouting she has sold us down the river, that is certainly not the case.
I have heard from right across the political spectrum that Theresa May and the UK Government do not know what they are doing and they are going to go for a soft Brexit or even no Brexit at all but I struggle to work out where they actually get this idea from. You do not need to be a political genius to realise that the EU is never going to offer the UK a good deal and government have clearly stated from the offset that \’No Deal is better than a Bad Deal\’ which indicated to me that the government would be working on a No Deal conclusion and everything that has happened so far throughout the exit negotiations has only strengthened that belief. Contrary to popular belief Theresa May and her government are not stupid and though they expect a no deal outcome they also know they must follow through on the exit negotiations to show the world that we have at least tried our best to come to a deal. This is extremely important considering we are stepping back onto the world stage and will be negotiating with countries from around the world. Showing we are sensible and fair is imperative but also showing we are resilient and will not cow down to bullies is just as important.
So consider the things that have happened with the idea in mind that the Tories fully expect a No Deal Brexit and things start to make a little more sense. For example, why did Theresa May make that over-hyped Florence speech when there were still 18 months of exit negotiations left to go? Why did she make the EU such a generous offer?What did she ever expect to gain by enraging the electorate in the way that she did? It most certainly did that because everyone was screaming for her head on a platter for it but throughout all of this she has never once lost her resolve and has simply carried on regardless of the abuse. She has certainly been playing with her hand very close to her chest and not letting anyone know what is going one. That Florence speech was simply her holding out an olive branch that she knew full well the EU could never accept, the government knows that for the EU to accept and deal offered it would only entice 27 other states to want a better offer or follow our lead in Brexit. So that speech was far more about showing to the world that she made a reasonable offer and the EU immediately rejected it. Bit of a smart move really when you think about the logic behind it.
Then this Friday in Brussels she agrees to certain things that seem to have upset a lot of people but it was only an agreement in principle and as they expect a No Deal Brexit, it really wouldn\’t have mattered what they agreed to, it would never be in the final outcome anyway. So those screaming about Article 49, it really is irrelevant if the Tories are planning to walk away on No Deal anyway. However, this has now enabled the exit negotiations to progress to phase two and trade deal talks will now commence and that happens to be a good thing that everyone should be pleased about because anyone with any political savvy at all, knows that the EU cannot offer a good deal, so they will only offer a bad one, as predicted by the government all along. Those trade deal talks will undoubtedly break down and May will then be in a strong and reasonable position to walk away. Florence has already shown the world she has tried her best and no one will condemn her for doing so. The sooner this happens the stronger the response from the public will be that she has become the new \’Iron Lady\’ and I certainly will not be surprised to see the Tories capitalise on that by holding a General Election in May 2018, to coincide with the local elections.
Of course, this is only my personal view on things as I have seen them materialise but doesn\’t it make far more sense of everything that has been happening, rather than the rants from the likes of Nigel Farage and other senior figures in UKIP, who seem to have taken their eyes off the ball completely. I do have grave concerns about Nigel these days and he has been a man I have known and respected for many years but I have found in politics that whenever a politician does something obviously wrong it generally means they have switched agenda somewhere along the line and this appears to be what has happened to Nigel… In every LBC show I have watched him turn on Theresa May and he always brings up the question posed to her by Iain Dale on how she would vote in a second EU referendum, like anyone politician worth their salt she avoided answering that question but not because as Nigel claims it was proof of her being a Remainer, it was because it was an obvious politically weighted question. What the question being posed really was, was how does Theresa May want to upset the most by answering that question, 16 million voters or 17 million voters and I assure you that not even Nigel Farage himself would have answered that question. I am not sure what is agenda is right now but I am sure that if Theresa May was to be ousted at this stage of the game it would be disastrous for Brexit, she would only be replaced by some other Tory who would not be beholden to the promises she has made, especially the one about following the will of the people. Remember how Cameron got out of invoking Article 50 on June 24th, 2016 by resigning? So why on earth would Nigel or anyone else come to that actually want that to happen? That to me makes far less sense than anything that Theresa May or our government have been doing lately.
If my thoughts on this make more sense than the scaremongering that is being bandied about by other parties who will end up with egg on their faces if I am proven right about the Tory plan and you would like to find out more about a new political party that actually look for commonsense solutions then visit www.engage-uk.org.uk