The big lie of this election

Britain simply cannot leave the EU without a trade deal with Europe, says Simon Jenkins in an article in the Guardian (‘Get Brexit done’ is this election’s biggest lie), as an island off the north west shores of continental Europe can’t be without a trade relationship with its adjacent continent. No deals with other countries in the world will come anywhere near compensating for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, and “the costs of a fixed border, tariffs and half-baked immigration controls.”

Leaks have indicated that the formation of a border in the Irish sea by the end of December 2020 is not possible, and neither would it, contrary to what Johnson is spinning in the media, be free of checks.

Jenkins asks why, if Northern Ireland is to remain in the customs union, then why not Britain? Remaining within the customs union would allow the UK to “stay within Europe’s economic area on the existing basis.”, protecting trade and jobs. Jenkins hopes a customs union is a compromise Brexiters and Remainers could agree on, even at this late date, and that Johnson doesn’t mean the nonsense he is spouting.