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I think this is imporatant because it continues the old tragedy of denying the need for trade-offs. So here’s some of them (thread)
You can have an FTA, but an FTA does not do away with trade barriers, neither does a CU as we have learned. A Single Market + CU goes much further in that respect. It’s perfectly fine to say we don’t want that, of course. But then we also don’t get that.
You want to be able to live and move across borders freely? That can be simplified on a sliding scale of course. From less money for a visa to visa-waiver to visa-free travel for three months etc. Few provide what the EU does. We don’t want it, we don’t get it.
Close cooperation with other countries is possible, but the number of meetings the EU has in various areas, bringing together high-level politicians / civil services is significant. We don’t want it, fine. But let’s not prevent we’ll have the same level of cooperation then.
Fighting crime cross-border is a hassle. The EWA goes quite far and hard to imagine without a court. We think it’s true intrusive, fine. But we also don’t get the benefits.
All in all: could we please stop pretending that 40 years worth of UK politicians and civil servants were idiots negotiating stuff that did not give us any benefits at all? It is perfectly fine to say we now want to leave. But that comes with trade-offs.
