Remember Brexit? The days when front pages were dominated by the backstop, “red lines” and late-night Brussels summits seemed turbulent at the time, but appear quaint in the light of today’s more serious chaos.
The UK has left the EU, so even diehard Remainers have given up on overturning the referendum result. The debate now is over the details of trading arrangements, making it understandable that many of us have tuned out – especially given the world’s other events.
But it would be a mistake to ignore Brexit altogether. Talks currently underway between British and EU negotiators may be technical in parts, but they will help determine the future of this country’s economy and constitution for years to come.
Right now, those negotiations seem stuck. Boris Johnson’s point man David Frost is engaged in a war of words with Brussels envoy Michel Barnier: after Mr Frost accused his counterpart of trying to trap Britain in the EU’s orbit permanently, Mr Barnier hit back with a letter saying the UK was “cherry picking” from the single market and complaining about the other side’s “tone”.
This is partly down to the usual theatrical chest-beating which takes place in every negotiation. But it also points to a genuine, fundamental difference between the two sides: the EU thinks that any trade deal should effectively involve the UK keeping associate membership, following some Brussels regulations in exchange for better access to Europe’s markets than any other country gets.
The British Government, on the other hand, is adamant that its ties to the EU should be those of two equal partners, setting mutually beneficial rules on trade and security without needing to enter a more comprehensive agreement. Officials insist they would rather see the talks collapse altogether than compromise those principles – although we’ve heard that one before.
On Wednesday Parliament had a visit from the Ghost of Brexit Past in the form of Theresa May. In an unusually spiky intervention, the former Prime Minister pointed out that Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement means that Northern Ireland is “required to follow EU regulations on certain goods until at least 2024 and potentially indefinitely”.
Right now, the future of UK-EU relations is not at the top of most people’s priorities. Like it or not, that will change in the months to come.
