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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/17/chequers-proposal-hard-brexit-remainers-parliament
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| Michael Gove is right: it’s vital to get the Chequers deal through | Michael Gove is right: it’s vital to get the Chequers deal through |
| (2 months later) | |
| Sanity time is at hand. Michael Gove is right. The reckless, crash-bang-wallop of the hard-Brexit fantasists has had its day. They have not produced a plausible future for British trade with Europe. The default option is now “crashing out”, and that is infantile. Of course the Chequers proposal has problems. But it takes the UK out of the EU and keeps frictionless trade with EU members. Both were always pledged by the prime minister as constituting Brexit. The EU asked for Britain’s proposals to meet this pledge, and now has them. It should negotiate them. | Sanity time is at hand. Michael Gove is right. The reckless, crash-bang-wallop of the hard-Brexit fantasists has had its day. They have not produced a plausible future for British trade with Europe. The default option is now “crashing out”, and that is infantile. Of course the Chequers proposal has problems. But it takes the UK out of the EU and keeps frictionless trade with EU members. Both were always pledged by the prime minister as constituting Brexit. The EU asked for Britain’s proposals to meet this pledge, and now has them. It should negotiate them. |
| The people must have another vote – to take back control of Brexit | |
| Gove may have his own motives for showing sweet reason. He is on a roll while his rival Boris Johnson is off with the fairies – he should try telling Yorkshire that England “acquiesced” in the Norman conquest as he did in his Telegraph column today. Chequers leaves trade in goods unimpeded, while services have always been subject to ad hoc deals. This has nothing to do with taking back control. All trade requires compromise on regulatory standards, in or out of the EU. To be a part of Europe’s single market, as Thatcher insisted, is blatantly in Britain’s interest. The EU’s deals with the rest of the world are far more effective than any the UK could get alone. | Gove may have his own motives for showing sweet reason. He is on a roll while his rival Boris Johnson is off with the fairies – he should try telling Yorkshire that England “acquiesced” in the Norman conquest as he did in his Telegraph column today. Chequers leaves trade in goods unimpeded, while services have always been subject to ad hoc deals. This has nothing to do with taking back control. All trade requires compromise on regulatory standards, in or out of the EU. To be a part of Europe’s single market, as Thatcher insisted, is blatantly in Britain’s interest. The EU’s deals with the rest of the world are far more effective than any the UK could get alone. |
| That Chequers is disliked by remainers and leavers alike is probably the best argument for it. Either way, it is the one game in play. That is why it is irresponsible for Labour’s Keir Starmer and the Liberal Democrats’ Vince Cable both to say their parties will vote against a Chequers-based settlement in parliament. It clearly does not help UK negotiators. And do these remainers really think the UK will then revert to full EU membership? | That Chequers is disliked by remainers and leavers alike is probably the best argument for it. Either way, it is the one game in play. That is why it is irresponsible for Labour’s Keir Starmer and the Liberal Democrats’ Vince Cable both to say their parties will vote against a Chequers-based settlement in parliament. It clearly does not help UK negotiators. And do these remainers really think the UK will then revert to full EU membership? |
| The consequence of parliament not ratifying Chequers would be a numbing chaos. How that helps either side is a mystery. There would be no time for a general election or another referendum, which again would decide nothing. It would probably involve some clock-stopping ritual and a worse Chequers. Westminster appears to have gone bonkers, Cable and Starmer included. | The consequence of parliament not ratifying Chequers would be a numbing chaos. How that helps either side is a mystery. There would be no time for a general election or another referendum, which again would decide nothing. It would probably involve some clock-stopping ritual and a worse Chequers. Westminster appears to have gone bonkers, Cable and Starmer included. |
| Finding common ground on single-market continuity has to make sense, along with some deal on EU passports, pending a new and urgent approach to migration across Europe. Britain should clearly stay with various EU agencies, as agreed under Chequers. Only luddites and xenophobes could seriously want to end all collaboration in law, security, science and medicine. Gove is therefore right. This is a traumatic moment for the UK. While talk of cataclysm may be exaggerated, politicians are toying with people’s livelihoods. Once the UK has withdrawn, once frictionless trade has been defined and resolved, the UK can sit back and assess the benefits and disbenefits of its new status in Europe’s economic space. | Finding common ground on single-market continuity has to make sense, along with some deal on EU passports, pending a new and urgent approach to migration across Europe. Britain should clearly stay with various EU agencies, as agreed under Chequers. Only luddites and xenophobes could seriously want to end all collaboration in law, security, science and medicine. Gove is therefore right. This is a traumatic moment for the UK. While talk of cataclysm may be exaggerated, politicians are toying with people’s livelihoods. Once the UK has withdrawn, once frictionless trade has been defined and resolved, the UK can sit back and assess the benefits and disbenefits of its new status in Europe’s economic space. |
| It can then retreat further from the EU, or return to a closer relationship. Both options can be contemplated. No parliament can bind its successors. The referendum itself proved that. The UK must just get over this hurdle, with the least damage done. | It can then retreat further from the EU, or return to a closer relationship. Both options can be contemplated. No parliament can bind its successors. The referendum itself proved that. The UK must just get over this hurdle, with the least damage done. |
| • Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist | • Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist |
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