If we approach this negotiation of who gives way first I think we are going to end up with the wrong sort of outcome. I am very conscious that there are many of my colleagues in parliament who see the EU in some way as "the enemy" and that if you just sit there and insist that you are going to get what we want they will eventually blink because motor manufacturers in Stuttgart will say we have got to have a system of free trade access. I'm not sure the EU is in a position to give us what we are asking for ... because we are not dealing with a sovereign entity. We are dealing with an International Treaty Organisation. It may be a lawyers point but I keep on making it because I worry that people don't understand how the EU functions. It's much easier for the EU to make adjustments to its structure to accommodate countries that are in it; it's going to be a totally different thing when dealing with a country that's outside of it and our future trade agreement is when we have left the EU. The only real things that are being negotiated between now and March next year are the withdrawal terms and transition. Bluntly speaking, the rest will be up for grabs when the UK is an external party seeking a trade agreement. For that reason, I personally, think it is unlikely, on some of these core issues, that we are going to get the EU to budge. Now of course this is a difficult thing for me to say because I don't want to be seen to be undermining the Prime Minister but equally we've got to be very careful about not misleading our public in this country, because at the end of day we may have to make some fairly stark choices and I note that some of my colleagues on the Conservative benches are convincing themselves we may actually leave with no agreement at all. That may be the end. But then we have to actually ask ourselves the question - what is the cost going to be for this, to our country, it's unity, and indeed our GDP and the quality of life of every person living here.
I want to support the government in getting the best possible deal but that's not to say I'm going to support my judgement over what I see to be in the national interest. This is why there is the potential in the next six months for this to roll into the most dreadful political crisis which I would quite like to see avoided. This is why we need ot have a rational debate about the choices. The difficulty has always been that we voted two years ago for an aspiration and the aspiration and the reality where always going to be different and the longer the period of time elapses the clearer that, I'm afraid, is going to become.
Demonic Grieve
