Not much remains of Theresa May’s red lines after the Brexit deal | The Guardian
Theresa May and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker [Image: Virginia Mayo/AP].
Little remains of the many red lines set out by Theresa May in her Lancaster House speech or party conference address of 2016.
If the EU referendum was the moment the British electorate clashed with the establishment, 8 December 2017 was the day that the legal and economic consequences collided with its political promises.
The first, and biggest, concession is buried in paragraph 49 of the 15-page report published early on Friday morning. Its implications will be anything but quiet in the weeks to come, for it undermines the prime minister’s previous insistence that Britain will be leaving the single market.
It states clearly: “In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union.” In other words, the UK may not be a member of the single market, or have any direct ability to shape its rules in future, but it could yet have to play by them in perpetuity.
Then there is the UK’s promise to free itself from interference by the European court of justice. Where once this seemed the most implacable of red lines, signs of continued ECJ involvement are strewn throughout the divorce agreement.
Finally there is the question of money. May had promised an end to large ongoing payments to the EU. Boris Johnson said it could “go whistle” if it wanted an exorbitant divorce settlement.
Though the text includes no figures, detailed commitments by the UK to meet all the initial financial requests of the EU suggest both these promises may look increasingly hollow, with a total bill of perhaps up to €60bn or more than £50bn.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
And a weaker border control if Ireland is remaining open borders….hopefully that will relieve Dover and the south coastal ports of thier unfair costly burden of illegals. Maybe the Cons think that having this paid for two year extension might open up an opportunity to think of another plan to try and keep the UK in the EU. Still waiting for the day the EU budgets are signed off as passing audit so I could have a little faith in the mega numbers being plucked out of the air
It takes a while, but EU budgets are signed off as passing audit. I think the most recent such sign-offs involved budgets up to 2013.
The claim that they weren’t has long since been dismissed as fake news.
Why aren’t the Brexiteers shouting “foul” at this complete cave in by May? We seem to be ending up with the worst possible deal yet no one is saying it.
It is as Mr Corbyn said ‘strong against the weak, and weak against the strong’.