1 year to go to Brexit. Is the Government ready? Not if this evidence is anything to go by. #1yrArticle50 ......THREAD
With only 6 months to complete the negotiations and bring a deal to Parliament, the UK Government hasn’t even decided if it wants immigration to be discussed
The European Council guidelines show they do expect immigration arrangements to be included in the discussions on the Future Partnership 
But the British Government hasn’t even worked out whether to talk about it - never mind what to say
The Home Secretary doesn’t even have any draft proposals or recommendations ready - all she has is some vague options then says it’s up to the Brexit Secretary & PM to decide
So 6 months to the end of negotiations. 12 months to the end of EU membership. Immigration was the biggest referendum issue nearly 2 years ago. Yet the Cabinet hasn’t got a position. And the Home Secretary hasn’t got a position.
Nor is there time to properly work one out. The Migration Advisory Committee doesn’t report until the autumn. We won’t see the Immigration White Paper until the end of the year at the earliest.
And where’s the time left for public consultation or Parliamentary debate - even though there are strong differences of opinion and we need enough time to get it right?
If the PM eventually decides she won’t discuss immigration with the EU, then we are left with a Canada deal. If she eventually concedes that she will put it on the table, she’s running out of time to sort it out.
Then there’s borders. Particularly in Ireland, but they’ve not worked out how to solve the problems at other borders if we are outside a customs union too
The cross-party Northern Ireland Committee, inc both Leave & Remain voters couldnt find any technology solution to prevent a hard border
On Dover and other ports, the technology & camera solutions that could prevent delays outside the customs union are still years away
Meanwhile they are still way off track for getting the Security Treaty (on European Arrest Warrant, Europol, criminal data sharing etc) ratified and implemented by December 2020 - publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
The Security Treaty will take time to negotiate (it’s taken Norway over 10 yrs to get an extradition deal), time to get a data adequacy agreement and time for all member states to ratify (that bit alone takes 18 months). And it could all be delayed by referral to the ECJ.
The registration system for EU nationals is delayed & wont go live until the end of this year. That gives the Govt two years to process 3.5m EU citizens, as well as those who arrive during the transition. That means the Home Office granting one application every 3.75 seconds.
And, of course, the Govt needs to recruit and train the 1,300 extra border staff and 1,200 immigration staff they’ve now promised
That’s just Home Affairs. On future trade plans, customs plans, environment plans, medicine plans and other important programmes and agencies, we still don’t know where we stand. And the legislation keeps being delayed
The referendum was nearly two years ago, yet the Government still hasn’t sorted out so many of the fundamental issues. The PM keeps kicking the can down the road. But with just twelve months to go that road is running out. #1yrArticle50 ....ENDS
