Bordering on the ridiculous

Today, the ERG published a 20 page document on how it sees the Irish Border can be solved.

In short, it is a rehash of the Maximum Facilitation plan that the Government has been pushing for the best part of a year, at least three times, and the EU has rejected, and mostly it relies on technology that either does not exist or has not be trialled.

It mentions "gates" and "systems" which is infrastructure, which all sides agrees cannot exist. It talks of "trusted traders", and how at the border des a customs official know if a load is being moved by a trusted trader? By checking of course, a hard border, or harder than one is now.

The backstop agreement states: no posts, no infrastructure, no guards, no CCTV.

So good luck with that.

Or as Ian Dunt says: "This paper and indeed most Brexit rhetoric is based on double-think on regulation. Firstly: We're keeping regulation the same so no need for checks. Secondly: We're going round the world signing trade deals which require changes to regulation."

And the ERG are threatening to withhold the financial settlement if UK does not get its way. Lets say again how dangerous that would be, reneging on solemn agreements to honour agreed financial commitments. The Decemeber agreement on sufficient progress was not legally binding, but the EU took UK at its word on "good faith". Good faith is something you might hear a lot of in the next few weeks, the belief that what the UK says now will be honoured no matter which party is in power or who is PM.

Without good faith there can be no WA, no TA and a massive car crash of an exit from the EU, with all the attempts by the EU to convince the rest of the world we trade with together that they should treat UK as part of the EU for a while, now withdrawn, and Liam Fox having to negotiate over 750 trade deals simultaneously. Good luck with that, Liam.

Meanwhile, our good friend, the Minister for chaos, Chris Grayling has written to the EU27 trying to see if they are open to doing side deals on transport issues in the event of a no deal. This is not gone down well with Barnier, nor with the EU27 either one suspects.

The EU President, Junker, today made his State of the Union speech, and he bitch-slapped May and the UK by saying that leaving the EU means leaving the Single Market, no cherry picking.

Brexit means Brexit.

Leave Means Leave.

The ERG talked about toppling May, although they probably don't have the numbers to do it, though today they tried to deny it, the lying weasels that they are.

We are nearing the endgame, and this will get madder.