The Brexit conundrum (reprise)

It is the stated aim of Her Majesty's Government to have a trade policy independent from the EU.

Today, Michael Gove confirmed that the UK would honour, in full, the Withdrawal Agreement.

The NI protocol says that for agri and some other Goods NI would remain in the Single Market.

Both cannot be true.

It is possible Gove, Johnson et al do not understand what they signed up to.

But it is more likely that they signed up to it with no intention of honouring it.

That would be a grave mistake, as I have previously said, all trade talks and agreements are conducted "in good faith", or that each takes the other at their word. If the UK were to break their word on this, it would make any of the 900 plus deals the UK have to make as the other party would insist on legal measures to ensure compliance. This is the UK, in trade terms, putting up a huge neon sign above Downing Street saying that the UK cannot be trusted.

It has been suggested that the UK will not participate in the International Patient Group, meaning that UK companies and individuals won't be able to protect their inventions and innovations. But I'm sure the Government know what they're doing.

Michael Gove has committed to recruiting 50,000 new customs officers. This is a skilled job and training usually takes two years, they need to be ready in ten months. 50,000 customs officers earning the living wage would cost £1.25 billion a year in wages alone. How's that for a Brexit bonus?

And by the end of the year, Brexit would have cost the country £200 billion in lost GDP, more than all of the UK's 49 year EU contributions.