Brexit Farce Getting Worse

it's worth reminding ourselves that of course one of the the great Promises of brexit was all these new trade deals that we were going to do which simply hasn't happened it didn't happen with the Americans the Australian deal was denounced by George Eustis in himself with a man who'd be partly responsible for for negotiating it when Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers fled the British Empire they went to Pitcairn Island and this act has assumed a recent great importance because bitcan is the last remaining British territory in the Pacific Ocean and gives us the right to participate in the new trans-pacific trade partnership joining this has been greatly celebrated by The Advocates of brexit as a success and a Vindication of their project I'm talking today with Brendan Donnelly the director of the federal trust about this Brendan what is your take on the decision to join the cptpp and what is its significance I think its significance has been grossly bizarrely overstated by The Advocates of brexit there's a reason for that um The brexit Narrative is falling apart daily as we look at it and there are a number of flaws fundamental flaws in the agenda which are now being revealed and yet with a bit of um of Goodwill a bit of a stretching of the facts perhaps a little bit of fantasy and exaggeration this participation in the trans-pacific partnership can be presented as being a delivery on some of the promised elements of brexit um we'll go through the elements of that and show that they're they're not realistic but it's because the partnership appears to tick some of the boxes of the promises of the referendum in 2016 that it's being talked up with such enthusiasm by The Advocates of brexit the principal notion is that the future uh growth area in the world economy is in Asia uh that Europe is in terminal Decline and that by going into this partnership Britain is now linking itself to these um economies of the future uh is that a reasonable proposition I mean can this deal compare in any way to what we had when we were members of the European Union no it's it's magical thinking it's the idea that somehow by being associated with Dynamic economies on the other side of the world and that will of itself turn the United Kingdom into a dynamic economy uh of course uh it's true that Asian economies will come over the over the decades to before us um to occupy a larger proportion of the world's GDP and that's excellent and we should have good trading relations with them um but the comparison between the likely economic spin-off from being in this partnership and the loss that we're suffering from being in brexit um is that is gigantic at a recent interview that I saw kemi badinok was reluctant to mention the well-known figure of 0.08 as I suppose benefit from the partnership because it Compares so unfavorably with the four percent of loss which is all experts um except is the direct consequence of our leaving the European Union um the thought that Europe is entirely in Decline um is is not one that can be sustained um high standards of living and political stability are on on offer in the great majority of Europe um if we look at Germany France Italy Spain these are highly successful um Democratic and productive countries the thought that the United Kingdom somehow uh can emancipate itself from the European tradition and European values and European ways of doing things is is simply fantastical some people have linked this to the trade the deal with Australia uh over um nuclear submarines and the Strategic alliance with the Americans uh in confrontation with China and of course the the trans-pacific trade partnership was in some respects originally conceived as a way of containing China in Asia economically and what is the geostrategic element in this a selling point as opposed selling point of brexit was the idea that the United Kingdom will be able to extend its geostrategic reach um supposedly it was cribed and confined by being in the European Union of course it was the other way around that um the United Kingdom has suffered a catastrophic loss of prestige and and the ability to be taken seriously by by brexit and and what it's brought about um but I think the the idea that joining the partnership is somehow going to leverage up of the United Kingdom the global standing particularly in the Pacific region is is once again uh fanciful I'm not sure that the United Kingdom has a clear view of the relationship that it wants to have with China on one level it wants to be a favored economic partner it appears of China and on the other level it wants to um be close to the Americans in their in their unease about the development of of a arrival in the Pacific and in the form of of China but I also think there's a further point the idea that the United Kingdom is going to turn up in this partnership and somehow dominate it and be able to use it and bend it to its will as an instrument of geopolitical um strategy making I I think is is is is hopeful to say the least um that there are important players already within this partnership um the Japanese the Canadians the new zealanders um they are not sitting around waiting for a lead from Britain Britain will have to take its place within the the organization it won't by any means being the most powerful voice within the organization how can it be being located geographically on the other side of the world one element that has been highlighted in in this discussion uh with relation to China is the suggestion that the UK being members of this uh partnership um could be in a position to prevent China from joining it because there has been suggestions that the Chinese might be interested in joining the cptpp um but another angle of that is that uh are joining it prevents us from rejoining the EU is that true um it's not true at all uh if we decided we wanted to rejoin the European Union we'd rejoined the European Union the fact that um uh so soon after leaving the European Union were able to join the partnership suggests that there's not an enormous disparity between between the two systems now the reason why the brexiters are talking about this um is that they realize um that the hope that brexit would commend itself on its merits to the United Kingdom's electorate um has proved to be to be factuous to be to be futile instead of saying uh we're not going to rejoin the European Union because brexit has been such an enormous success um they're now desperately reduced to advocating poison build which supposedly make it um difficult if not impossible to rejoin the European Union uh if we managed to leave the EU we can manage to leave the partnership it may even be easier than we think um it might be that we could have our cake and eat it it might be that it could be the easiest trade deal ever in human history who knows perhaps they need us more than we need them this whole discussion about the supposed benefits of uh are joining the trans-pacific partnership uh is part of a wider picture that the those Advocates of brexit seemed ready to um disguise the the downside that we are suffering and the the relatively poultry uh advantages that we are achieving from this Arrangement um and and this extends this attitude and a trend of deception seems to uh be more extensive I mean it is it we see it in other areas we see it just recently in this whole connection over over the problems at Dover um the reluctance to admit what is obvious to anybody that um the huge cues there are due to um um um departing the European Union yes it is part of of a larger picture um but it's worth reminding ourselves that of course one of the the great Promises of brexit was all these new trade deals that we were going to do which simply hasn't happened it didn't happen with the Americans the Australian deal was denounced by George Eustis itself in himself with a man who'd been partly responsible for for negotiating it um but that feeds into a a lot as you say a larger picture um of pretending that the black is white of of denying the um the the obvious um downsides of brexit um uh very interestingly it's an abroadman um was uh contradicted by number 10 which did admit that brexit played a role in the congestion in Dover um but I think that the picture of of of the implications for break of brexit for British political culture um is a very very Bleak one indeed because it's been a retooling of British society and economy both externally and internally based on on lies and fantasy that's created a a culture of a estrangement from the truth the estrangement from reality um that it's possible to say anything um and get away with it because it may well not be challenged by um by um uh by the courtship journalists and moreover um you won't suffer politically either internally in terms of your party or externally in terms of of your political career it's a very sad position um another example of this is the retained EU legislation bill which apparently is still going through um Rishi tunak has committed recommitted himself to it um and that is a a a vandalism an iconoclasm which we we don't normally associate or haven't normally associated with the concern Innovative party up till now um brexit is a cancer which is estranging our politics and our political culture from real reality and consistency and it's a very worrying situation this coming back to the pivot towards Asia that this entails what is strange to me in this is that it seems to reveal an underlying pessimism about uh the future among brexiteers so this sense that Asia is the future that um Europe and the West in some respects is in uh decline and that uh the arguments that you find in the establishment in the United States that America must resist a particularly the strength of China on the world stage and in the establishment of the European Union that in many respects the European Union was created in order to prevent European decline but through Unity uh Europe would be stronger Britain's departure from from both these ways of thinking is rather striking particularly since uh part of the idea of brexit was to mirror more closely American geostrategic thinking rather than European whereas it in this grander picture the European establishment and the U.S establishment seem to be more or less at item and we are the outlier uh I think it's difficult to to depict one single philosophy of brexit the one of the problems about it is that it's a result of a number of different and sometimes conflicting philosophies um one philosophy that you talk about is exactly that um that Europe is in terminal decline but the hope is that somehow the United Kingdom will be able to save itself um from this um this ship um I hesitate to talk about rats leaving sinking ships but certainly that is the idea um that somehow the United Kingdom can isolate itself from the contagion of Europe now this is all all nonsense and of course Asia over the coming decades and centuries is going to play a larger role in the world's economy uh it's a a a a a good thing um if the um there's a greater balance between the economic development of various parts of the world um but to go from that to saying that Europe is in terminal decline in is absurd um in Continental Europe and people are highly productive in many cases more productive than they are in this country they live in in civilized well-ordered societies um with a good welfare states and equality pursued by government so as a a as a a goal in itself there is a philosophy espoused by the late um Nigel Lawson um which is a more market-oriented philosophy um which is one which is more tolerant of of inequality um I don't think that that's a view that commends itself to most people in the United Kingdom I think uh it was striking that during the referendum there was a claim that more money would be available for the National Health Service um a governmental Services provided the benefit of the citizen um are what um that the British electorate on the whole wants they they don't want um Singapore on Thames and I think that as it has become clear that for some of the Advocates of brexit that was the the all and end-all of brexit in order to clear the way for a more radical Market liberal uh model of society in the United Kingdom um so the popularity of brexit has declined well Brenda thank you very much for this I think we've covered some interesting Grand and doctors we will be continuing uh these discussions in due course thank you very much

Channel: The Federal Trust

Views: 48,668

Keywords: Brexit, Brexit news, Federal Trust, United Kingdom free trade, free trade deal, China and UK, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, CPTPP, China trade, Europe and UK, Brexiteers, Rishi Sunak, Rejoin EU, UK economy, Britain, EU law bill

Id: Mq-qHdtTFto

Length: 15min 18sec (918 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 05 2023