Thread by @DaveKeating

Some straight talk from EU’s trade chief.

He says UK government has “decided COVID is going to be blamed for all the fallout from #Brexit”.

@BorisJohnson plans for a #NoDealBrexit in 7 months “because they can effectively blame COVID for everything”.
uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hea…

He is saying out loud what people in Brussels have been saying for weeks:

There are no serious #Brexit negotiations taking place. The UK govt seems to have decided it will fold Brexit cliff edge chaos into overall global economic #COVID19 chaos, and people won’t notice it.

The strategy has some logic to it.

If UK govt know the only way to avoid severe economic harm is to agree a trade deal some will interpret as a betrayal of the referendum result, politically the easiest thing to do is take the harm and time it for when people are already hurting

But while this strategy might be appealing politically, economists say it would have serious reproductions.

It could make the difference between a temporary recession and a long-term depression in the UK.

The pain would come just as other countries are recovering in 2021.