This is not only against international law, but so monumentally economically and politically illiterate that only our government could be responsible for even contemplating it.
Why? The small matter of trade deals: which is almost entire reason for N Ireland debacle. 1/
Why? The small matter of trade deals: which is almost entire reason for N Ireland debacle. 1/
2/ If we leave EU with no deal - which, remember, is still advertised by gov as preferable to a ‘bad deal’, there’ll be no customs cooperation deal with EU at all. Which means chance of EU collecting any UK tariffs is absolutely zero. (It’s probably zero even if we have a deal.)
3/ If UK operates no checks on lorries coming in either through Ireland or Channel, there will be literally no way of collecting any UK tariffs.
4/ At the same time, UK wants to sign a range of free trade deals with specific countries. Main interest for many of them is reducing or eliminating tariffs on their key exports to the UK.
Only there’ll be no checks at borders. So no way of checking where goods come from.
Only there’ll be no checks at borders. So no way of checking where goods come from.
5/ Why would NZ sign an FTA with UK when its goods would be treated the same as goods from non-preferred countries? UK goods would get all benefits in NZ and it wouldn’t be reciprocated.
6/ Meanwhile, how does UK intend to deal with this problem? It can’t collect tariffs, remember, because it’s promised not to inspect any lorries. Chris Grayling, esteemed Transport Secretary, literally promised that on #bbcqt last night.
7/ So does UK nominally collect tariffs and abolish them for NZ goods in name only, while in fact collecting none? Waste of everyone’s time. Nobody will sign a deal on that basis.
8/ Or does UK unilaterally scrap all tariffs, thus obviating need for those border checks? (Standards another matter, but for another time.)
That not only wipes out UK manufacturing, according to policy’s own advocates- but means countries won’t sign a deal in a million years.
That not only wipes out UK manufacturing, according to policy’s own advocates- but means countries won’t sign a deal in a million years.
9/ If NZ now gets all its goods into UK for free without even asking, it’s not going to bother giving UK exporters the same benefit. Why would they give their businesses the competition?
10/ That’s just economics. If UK is neglecting to check any goods for either rules of origin or standards, it’s not following international law and not being a reliable partner. Our reputation will be shredded. No country will give us the time of day. Or anything else.
11/ At a stroke then, UK renders trade deals not only impossible to implement but impossible to even negotiate. They are dead on arrival. Gov would be shooting itself in the head and then decapitating itself for good measure.
And for *this* we’re risking 20 years of peace in NI?
And for *this* we’re risking 20 years of peace in NI?
