No-deal Brexit may be the only answer
David Frost, Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen and Michel Barnier meeet in Brussels for last-minute talks on securing a trade deal.
By Robert J Davies
If we have learnt anything from the tortuous, incredibly complex and desperately difficult task of trying to leave the EU it is that we absolutely should not have entangled ourselves with these people in the first place. If only one could turn the clock back fifty years to an independent Britain that wasn’t led by a Quisling like Ted Heath and which had the confidence to say No to Europe (and No to a few other things besides).
Unless we want to still be saying “if only” in a decade’s time, we need to get this crucial moment in our history right. We formally left the EU (thank heaven) on January 1st, 2020 but remain in its clutches until at least New Year’s Day 2021. But we could easily remain enmeshed for far longer and they will use any trick they can, to wield influence over us; to make our true departure as difficult as possible and above all, to make sure that we either don’t thrive on the outside or if we do, it’s only because we are still beholden to their beneficence and wonderful rules. It’s hard to imagine a more cynical, sinister, deeply insecure and self-serving organisation than the European Union. What a mockery it makes of the original high-flown but nonetheless, high-minded ideals of European co-operation in the aftermath of the Second World War.
It would be naive to think that, having escaped from the direct clutches of the playground bully, that we can’t still be dominated and manipulated. We are just a stone’s throw away from the European mainland after all, and well within punching distance. At the time of writing, Boris Johnson is under huge pressure to make concessions to Brussels in a desperate bid to secure some sort of trade deal. Yesterday, the PM had his much-anticipated dinner with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, which was billed as the likely breakthrough moment. Yet “large gaps” remain to be bridged. One wonders just how much he would have to give away in order to do so. It must be hoped that he doesn’t succumb because the long-term consequences will almost certainly not be worth the short-term gains. We survived, as an island nation, through two wartime naval blockades in which the Germans actively sought to scuttle all supply ships bound for our shores. We’re not facing anything half so drastic this time. But if it came to chaos at the ports and even food shortages, then the British people could probably be relied upon to tap into some of that wartime spirit and comradeship and sense of fair play and shrug and get on with it.
We have already endured a huge amount of pain and soul-searching as a nation to prise open the prison door. We’ve now reached the towering, razor-wire topped perimeter fence. But on the other side is freedom and there is a gate through that fence which, for a few days, will stand tantalisingly ajar. It is called a No Deal Brexit. We should walk through it, with our heads held high.
