The UKs faith in a sweet Brexit isnt just deluded its dangerous

The UK’s faith in a ‘sweet Brexit’ isn’t just deluded – it’s dangerous
Joris Luyendijk

As the UK political class zigzags towards the abyss, saying one thing about Brexit today and another thing tomorrow, any illusions in EU capitals that the summer holiday may have brought British MPs to their senses must now be put to rest. Indeed, the daily British displays of hope for a sweet “soft Brexit” deal illustrate not only the tenacity of British self-delusion. More than that, they lay bare a persistent and dangerous ignorance of the internal logic of the EU.

Talk in British media and politics is still too often of the need for a “tough negotiator” who can deliver a great deal for Britain, keeping the benefits of single market membership without any (or many) of the obligations and costs. What is required, so the thinking goes even in most remain circles, is an acceptance on the part of the EU that it is in nobody’s interest to “punish Britain” in order to “discourage other countries from leaving”.

The first problem here is the term “single market”. Brexiteers and remainers alike seem to cling to a 19th-century notion of separate nations making their own products and trading them with other countries. The chief political project is then to lower or ideally abolish tariffs so that the so-called comparative advantages of free trade kick in.

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To be sure, the EU will be damaged if in 18 months Britain crashes out of the EU, the way your suit is ruined with blood stains if the person standing next to you decides to shoot themselves in the foot. But does the British political class genuinely believe that EU member states are going to jump in front of that bullet and undermine the very existence of their single economy in order to safeguard the privileges of a country that over the past decades has lost no opportunity to disparage, undermine and blackmail them? Britain already had a sweet deal – it’s not getting any sweeter. In spite of its recent bout of ignorant irrationality Britain still has many friends and admirers across the continent, and friends don’t let friends drink-drive. But what if the inebriated party insists that you are no longer friends in any case?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/uk-sweet-brexit-deluded-eu-europe-single-economy

Although I find Brexit horrifying, I do find it sort of cute that the lawyers, accountants and all forms of consultants (my employer included) rather than claiming supernatural clairvoyance in any discussion of Brexit will quickly seek to stake out the greatest possible claim of total slack-jawed ignorance. What does Brexit mean? Fuck if we know.