Politics

No deal plea: Expert tells Boris Johnson to start EU relationship from ‘ground zero’


Mark Littlewood, director of the Institute for Economic Affairs, made his remarks in the wake of ’s frank exchange of views with . Mr Johnson wrote to the European Council President to demand the scrapping of the “anti-democratic” plan for the Irish border – but Mr Tusk responded by saying Mr Johnson needed to offer alternative proposals.

Mr Littlewood said: “It’s difficult to say this without sounding blasé but I’m cautiously optimistic.

“I think no deal is now more likely than not but I don’t think it’s going to be the existential crisis some people have suggested.

“It’s rather more likely that the Government will deal with the and everything else after we leave, in November or December during a free-flowing exchange which follows Brexit.

“One might conclude that it is actually easier to rebuild our relationship with the from ground zero, once we leave.

“One of the things which irritates me slightly is this talk of there being ‘no deal’, which is a bit of a misnomer.

“What they actually mean is that there is not a comprehensive deal.

JUST IN:

He said: “It would have been better if this had all got underway sooner but now are in full swing.

“In fact, private companies have been preparing for a long while now – it’s the public companies which are dragging their feet here.

“Like with anything, we need to prepare for the best and expect the worst.

“This is about being optimistic without being cavalier.

“We don’t want to say nothing is going to go wrong but I think it’s important to dial down this sense of the impending apocalypse.”

Mr Littlewood cited Czechoslovakia’s split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the break-up of the , as examples of major political upheavals which had been managed with relatively little disruption, adding: “Obviously Britain’s departure from the EU is nowhere near comparable in terms of scale to that.”

He also mentioned then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s decision to abolish the Greater London Council in the 1980s, adding: “There were all these scare stories about how London would grind to a halt and how the tubes would stop running.

“Of course, none of it actually happened.”

The leaking of was a “case in point”, Mr Littlewood added, saying all the document had actual done was set out the worst case scenarios, rather than saying they were actually likely to happen.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.