pastafarian
Well-known member
Well that's clear then! But thanks for responding.
The substantive (practicable) point is this (sophistry aside): there is unfinished business which we are legally/morally bound to negotiate. As for this 'over ready' bollocks (oh I do hate Johnson's journalistic approach to serious matters of state which instantly trivialises all that it touches) I would think that this means it still needs cooking!
And the bad news is that the electricity has been cut-off. Were it an old fashioned gas oven I might be tempted to recommend where BJ should put his head.
I don't want to go into the swamp of procedure, but (genuinely interested) what is your view of the situation if negotiations break down. What do we default to? Presumably WTO rules? But do you (or anyone?) have a grasp of what these look like in practice?
As it happens I don't think negs will break down. Not because 'they need us more than we need them' but because I'm assuming there might just be a sliver of common-sense located somewhere underneath the Johnson thatch, and that compromise might just be possible. The consequential chaos if we don't get some sort of deal is not something that any government (and many Brexiteers, perhaps including you) would contemplate, surely?
It is worth noting (as some forget), that if negotiations don’t produce preferential trading arrangements with the EU by the end of transition then its default WTO terms with the EU (with no preferential EU trade arrangements in place) and if trade arrangements are agreed with the EU by the end of transition then its still default WTO terms (but with supplementary EU preferential trade arrangements in place).
The EU (and UK by extension) already adhere to WTO rules as members of it. Doesn’t always happen in practice though which is why the EU is not alone in having sanctions placed on it in the past for breaking WTO trade rules
Don’t forget, even with no preferential trade agreements in place by the end of transition, it does not mean the EU and UK will stop trying to ever have preferential trade agreements in the future, it just means none are in place and concluded by the end of transition.