Time for Single Market!

Time for Single Market!

Everyone has neighbours. Sometimes but fortunately not very often, they turn out to be neighbours from hell. Countries also have neighbours and like us they often have neighbours which leave a lot to be desired. Close to home, Johnson's party is not a good neighbour to both our European colleagues, and the citizens of our nations. Johnson's English nationalism and exceptionalism threatens to wreck the United Kingdom. On the continent the traditional British policy of maintaining influence by playing a balance of power between competing states is dead and buried.

The continued blame game and Johnson's boosterism where apparently all is going swimmingly well or it's all the fault of Johnny Foreigner is wearing thin. Two years on from Brexit, having signed a deal significantly worse than that negotiated by May, Johnson's party is busy blaming the EU for all sorts of problems of their own making. The chancellor last week produced a set of measures which hit the poorest hardest, gouged the middle classes and looked after the very rich. He was happy to blame the EU for not allowing a VAT cut on solar panels despite the fact the EU did that last year. What happened to Brexit and Taking Back Control?

Much of this posturing smacks of incompetence. Meanwhile our economy is not doing well. We need to change our relationship with our neighbours who over Ukraine have risen to the challenge. Aside from money and weapons, the EU has been welcoming to refugees. So are the British public but Johnson and Patel seem to be doing the most to keep them out citing security concerns. These concerns did not apply to the Russian oligarchs and their donations to the Conservative party despite warnings by the intelligence and security services.

It is in our national interest to repair our relationship with the Europeans. We need to cut the red tape that the British government has introduced because of a lack of preparation for Brexit. Once the trading relationship between the UK and the EU is deepened, and the ties of trust and friendship renewed, we need to place the UK-EU relationship on a more formal and stable footing by seeking to join the Single Market.