New week, old problems

Over the weekend, the Japanese Ambassador to the Court of St James warned that Japanese car companies need to have assurances that they would have access to the SM and cross border supply chains would still work post Brexit. But it seems this warning wasn't clear enough to May and her Brexiteers as come half seven this morning, May assured her crack(pot) team of Brexiteers that it was UK intention to leave the CU. This did change before eight, but back again just after.

And apart from the NI/Irish border issue, there is a just as big issue, but bear with me as the subject is dry, and I won't go into details. It is VAT harmonisation. One of the reason for not having border checks is that VAT is the same on both sides, take that away then the VAT payable would have to be worked out, so high tech solutions, even if they were acceptable, would not be enough to avoid a hard, or hardish border. But the oversight committee remarked that as HMRC had made no plans whatsoever, they assume that it was the Governments plan not to diverge on VAT with the EU.

Of course such details are lost on Brexiteers who only see their great crusade of free trade against the world's largest free trade area.

Their key argument is control. As I pointed out before, there is a balance between control and trade, the more control you want the less tade you get, and vice versa, and no matter who you trade with you have to comply with their rules; EU of USA.

The EU has been trying to conduct a FTA with India, but in return, the Indian government want freer immigration rules. UK vetoed this, odd that India being a Commonwealth country and India is one of the countries that DD is targeting for a post Brexit trade deal. Now that UK is not participating in trade deals, it seems an EU-India trade deal might happen sooner rather than later. I'm sure the irony of this will be lost on the Brexiteers.

The EU is close to sealing an FTA with Mexico too, another country that DD has targeted. All going so well.

DD visited NI today, and went to look at the border, and has been photographed looking at a bridge. As you do.

Of course, how he and May will square the circle of the deal agreed with the EU on the fallback solution for NI and her repeated statements that UK would not be in a or the CU. It is possible she doesn't understand what she and DD signed up for of course.

DD stated that a deal on the border might take until October, when the ratification process has to start. That the EU have given UK an end of June deadline seems to have escaped his eagle eye.

Still, eleven months and counting.