“It is not as simple as we were told.” We assume that comment has been made many times as the United Kingdom heads towards its divorce from Europe. For Prime Minister Theresa May her position is that of a naked lion tamer—no chair, no gun, no whip—facing unfed and fractious lions on behalf of a jungle of angry and fractious beasts behind her.
And now she has been told that the easy part of Brexit is completed with less than a year left to negotiate the United Kingdom’s future relations with the continent and the European nations. The fixed date for the Brexit divorce remains March 2019.
How is May supposed to look on these negotiations after watching Canada struggle with the EU for the past four years trying to finalize a supposedly done deal? And how does she deal with the EU negotiators who know they hold all the cards?
And please tell us gullible ones just how the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic can remain transparent? Ask any Mexican what a Maquiladora means and you might have figured out a future for Northern Ireland. The alternative would be to join with the Republic or a separated Scotland and stick with the EU.
The economists are starting to examine the early impacts of Brexit and while there are still a few who think a positive future from Brexit is possible, they are much quieter these days. They will have more fodder for their computers once the serious Brexit negotiations get under way in 2018.
But the Brexit bullies who pushed the separation through with so much ‘fake news’ are the ones who will be told to “Go whistle” in the long run. They thought they could eat their cake and will be the ones disappointed when the cake is gone.
And pity Theresa May as she looks back to reassure herself that her so-called loyal denizens of the jungle are behind her. The problem is that they have slunk off into the rainforest and are plotting her replacement.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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