Why Do We Still Not Know What We Want From Brexit?

Incredible as it will seem in the future, the week before the Brexit negotiations are about to start there still is no clear idea of exactly what Britain will be seeking to get out of them.  The debate is being polarised around the terms hard and soft brexit, but the reality is that there are a multitude of ways we could leave.  My personal opinion is that if common sense prevailed we’d go for the mildest option available.  We can always shift our stance to get further out later if we choose.


But politics isn’t about common sense.  The version of Brexit that the Conservative government seemed to be going for before the election was pretty much the most extreme practical version available.  But when they did badly they seem to have started dialling back on it.

I think there is one of those really obvious misunderstandings going around that is obvious when you think about it but which not many people appear to have gone to the trouble of actually putting the thought into.  There is no reason whatever for the negotiations with the EU to be adversarial.  We don’t need to hold our cards close to our chest to get a better deal.  The opposite is the case.  The EU has no interest in doing Britain down.  All we need to sort out is the path from where we are now to where we want to be.    Our current partners are not our enemies and we have no quarrel with them.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t competition between Britain and Europe over certain resources - but there is competition between Europeans over those kinds of things too.  There will be a right old bun fight over who gets the plums like the European Medicines Agency and Euro trading.   All that has happened is that we have voluntarily given those things up.

So basically we need to agree on what exactly it is about the EU that we don’t like.  Once we have done that the process of coming up with a new relationship  that gives us what we want doesn’t have to be particularly fraught.  The question that needs to be answered is what we want out of Brexit.  I haven’t heard any good answers yet.