A simple point that is not made often enough in the Brexit debate.
We are leaving the EU in March 2019.
Therefore from this date absent any other arrangements the UK will be treated by the EU as a third country. /1/
We are leaving the EU in March 2019.
Therefore from this date absent any other arrangements the UK will be treated by the EU as a third country. /1/
Every day I see stacks of tweets saying that the EU won't really treat the UK, our businesses, our individuals, any differently after we leave. Usually justified on it not being in their interests, economic, financial, political etc - unfortunately /2/
There is a large problem with the 'EU won't treat us differently after leaving' line. Called EU law. Those rules and regulations have clauses that distinguish members and non-members. These are not going to be rewritten for the UK en masse in March 2019 /3/
So come March 2019, no deal means everything the EU said here - ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/br… - comes true. Forget talk of the WTO saving us, won't happen. Read the notices. /4/
Oh and we also lose 750 EU international treaties under which companies are trading - unless we can bilaterally replicate them in the next 7 months. Which seems unlikely. ft.com/content/f1435a… /5/
Someone should calculate exactly how much Liam Fox has cost UK holidaymakers through his no-deal comments last week. Because the markets know what no-deal means to the UK. This is getting serious. /6/ bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
A final note of optimism. There will probably be a Withdrawal Agreement and transition period because the consequences of there not being would be so severe. But it's time to lose the blinkers. We are soon to be treated as a third country by the EU. /7end/
