BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS BUBBLE NICELY.

As we approach the 'crunch point' for Brexit negotiations, things seem to be hotting up. Theresa May is reportedly going to tell EU leaders not to demand the "unacceptable" in negotiations over the Northern Irish border, while Donald Tusk, for the EU, has said that the UK's proposals regarding both the Irish border question and future economic cooperation "need to be reworked and further negotiated". At the same time, Michel Barnier, also for the EU, has suggested that they may be prepared to move their position on the subject of the Irish border.

Clearly, the EU is becoming a bit twitchy about the potential for a 'No Deal' scenario, which is hardly surprising given what they would lose if that came to pass. It's already been clearly stated by the UK's 'Brexit Secretary' that 'No Deal' would mean no divorce settlement; the EU would miss out on the little matter of £39bn. Additionally, the EU's annual trade surplus with the UK is reported to be around £70bn; the prospect of seeing this substantially reduced can't be a happy one. While the UJ would undoubtedly suffer in the event of 'No Deal', there would surely be a significant drop in the number of German, French, Italian and Swedish cars bought in the UK, while imports of wine, fruit, olive oil and much more would also be affected, none of which would be popular on either side of the channel. The Irish economy could be decimated.

The question of the Northern Irish border is one which the UK government should have been firm about from the outset. Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom and the integrity of our nation must always come first. However, we seem to have allowed the Eire government to hijack this issue and turn it into an opportunity to push its own political agenda; consequently, we have the nonsense about the nature of the border between the 2 parts of the island of Ireland. In truth, the UK sees no issue and it is only the EU, driven on by the relatively new government in Dublin, which has made a fuss. Why does the UK not simply tell the EU that we will impose no border restrictions and leave it to them to do whatever they want on the Eire side ?

As far as trade is concerned, why has the UK been so wishy-washy in its approach ? Either we have a free trade agreement or we don't. If we do, everything will continue much as now; the policies and general approach of the UK is much the same as that of the EU and will undoubtedly remain so for the foreseeable future, so why the fuss ? If there is no deal, prices will rise as WTO tariffs will be applied, making the aforementioned BMW will simply swap my BMW for something from a non-EU country, my French wine for wine from Australian, New Zealand or elsewhere, and so on. I've no doubt that others will do the same.

All of this adds up to the single fact that it is the EU which needs to "rework" its thinking and be more flexible and realistic. What are the chances ?