Britain is slap bang in the middle of a crisis and during times of crisis we turn to our leaders. Those in the right position to put our nerves at ease and calm us down. Yet, through this entire situation many cabinet officials are resigning. The latest of which is David Davis, Brexit Secretary, who believes May’s soft approach is ‘giving too much away, too easily’. And now, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also taken leave, finding the Brexit tune chimed by the government to ‘stick in the throat’ .
Brexit talks seem to be going to hell. Less than a year away from the UK’s departure from the EU negotiations are at a standstill as Parliament cannot agree with how to progress. With no trade deal in place as of yet some may be under the misguided opinion that this could result in Brexit being removed from the table all together. Untrue. At the moment it is looking like we will reach March 29 in 2019, the date in which Britain is due to exit, with no clear direction or structure as to how Brexit will work for either the UK or the EU.
Britain will be leaving the EU but there is no way in which we can keep all the benefits of being a part of the EU whilst tossing out all the bad. Given current indications, the Brexit deal will likely mean that one way or another the British people will lose out. A soft Brexit will mean that the UK remains in either the single market or the customs union, or both, but must compromise on free movement allowing EU citizen to settle in the UK with access to public services. This is of course problematic given that a major reason why most people want to leave the EU is over the free movement clause. On the other hand, a hard Brexit will see the UK taking back control of its borders, completely abolishing free movement and leaving fewer ties between the UK and the EU. Such an outcome however will result in a tariff trade, making everything inevitably more expensive.
Theresa May seemingly wants the best of both worlds. She claims that through Brexit she intends to put an end to free movement, the European Court of Justice, and to regain control of the UK’s money. All this while creating a common rule book for a UK-EU free trade area.
In theory it all sounds, well, too good to be true. Britain voted to leave the EU and it seems as if the government are reneging at the last minute. As a nation, a decision was made by the majority that the UK should gain independence from the EU. But this has caused absolute chaos in the logistics of how it will all go down.
It looks like Britain is looking for the easy way out. To be apart of the EU in all but name. As a result, many criticise May’s soft Brexit approach for allowing Britain to continue being rule takers as opposed to rule makers.
