The one “card” the UK truly held was Art.50 timing; the only bit in the negotiation’s legal framework entirely within our control. We squandered it. ALL this guidance, issued weeks before we hurtle over the cliff with no time to implement, should have been done pre-notification.
Timing of notification is the bit of the entire negotiation the government got the most wrong, succumbing to the lunatic fringe within the Tory party and the right wing media who demanded it. This river of shit flows from it.
There was a legitimate argument for getting all our ducks in a row, recruiting necessary staff, doing the risk assessments, issuing notices, and then notifying. But nobody made it. And since Labour whipped the vote for this, they must take their share of blame for this disaster.
