The deed is done

Against all my expectations, and one could argue, against reality and logic, on Wednesday the British Government delivered the letter confirming the Article 50 notification to Brussels. It is important to remember, this is the only, and therefore last, trump card Mrs May and her Government and Brexiteers can play. Saying when it would be made was the last thing that was in Britain's decesion to make. From now on it will be the Eu and the EU27 who decide what and when and if anything else happens.

This goes against what was said in the referendum campaign, and what has been said since. But the 27 are united, and are now set to protect themselves, and now that Britain has said officially it wants to leave, the duty of care towards us is removed.

However, Britain will remain part of the EU for the two years of the Brexit process, and so is tied by the rules that bind, unable to open negotiations with any other EU county, in fact deals can only be made with the whole EU27 until at least the 29th March 2019. And the same goes with the rest of the world; Britain is in the EU and tied by the same rules, cannot even begin to talk about trade deals until the same date. Indeed, it cannot even rely on the deals done with the rest of the WTO as part of the EU, Britain will fall back onto the most basic of WTO schedules.

Or not. We just don't know.

On Thursday, the Government published the White Paper of the so-called "Great Repeal Bill" revealing it to be as feared, a great power grab by the executive. Indeed, even worse than that, no draft bill is to be published, just the 19 pages of the White Paper to be discussed. Parliament might be by-passed in approving this, thus allowing the Government to rubber stamp its own power grab. JUst like was predicted. 47 years of intertwining of domestic and EU laws was never going to be easy, but without any oversight; where is my sharp pencil?

And then there was Friday. Friday the EU Council published it's negotiating strategy, and blew most of what the PM and Brexiteers have been saying since last June. Divorce settlement first, and only when the EU is happy with that will talks move on. No parallel talks, thus also blowing out many assurances to the contrary that the PM and her Brexit team had said up to now.

This is where on an almost daily basis, Britain and its crack (!) team of negotiators will bang their heads against the walls of reality. As more and more difficult and unexpected issues come up and can't be explained away by using the term "project fear". It will be painful for our nation, many will lose their jobs, will be poorer, and those that do have jobs will see long-fought for rights erroded as British companies have to slash costs to make up for tariff and nontariff barriers. Agreements set up to protect the staus of Gibraltar will not now be in force, and the EU makes clear, they expect movement on the issue. Just like we said. Imagine what happens with Argentina in the WTO!

We did tell them so, but they would not listen, or if they did, they pretended not to hear. Lloyds is already planning on moving to Brussels, others will follow. Many others.

I'll get me popcorn.