Better to do Brexit right than in a hurry.
A number of people who ought to know better have been arguing that Article 50 of the EU constitution should be triggered as quickly as possible.
Almost without exception they are Brexit supporters who either think there is a possibility that the referendum result will not be honoured or find it politically convenient to pretend this.
Well, the vote will be honoured and the detail of the negotiations matters a lot more than how quickly we leave. If we want to get a deal which delivers progress addressing the concerns of the 52% of people who voted to leave without making the fears of the 48% who voted remain come true, we have to get the details right and negotiate the best deal possible.
We have not sorted out our own policy yet on how we want Brexit to work. When we invoke Article 50 we have only two years to negotiate.
And a lot of next year may be a difficult time to negotiate because of the French, then German elections.
I believe that a better stance would be to get our own position absolutely nailed down first, and then invoke article 50 straight after the German elections.
There is an excellent article by Juliet Samuel in the Telegraph on the subject,
"Ignore the Brexit speed freaks - this is something which cannot be rushed."
As she writes,
"Although it might be frustrating for passionate campaigners, it would be better to choose our moment carefully, rather than rushing to the exit. A serious commitment to leaving does not require the Government to commit to flying out of the union like a bat out of hell."
Quite.
Almost without exception they are Brexit supporters who either think there is a possibility that the referendum result will not be honoured or find it politically convenient to pretend this.
Well, the vote will be honoured and the detail of the negotiations matters a lot more than how quickly we leave. If we want to get a deal which delivers progress addressing the concerns of the 52% of people who voted to leave without making the fears of the 48% who voted remain come true, we have to get the details right and negotiate the best deal possible.
We have not sorted out our own policy yet on how we want Brexit to work. When we invoke Article 50 we have only two years to negotiate.
And a lot of next year may be a difficult time to negotiate because of the French, then German elections.
I believe that a better stance would be to get our own position absolutely nailed down first, and then invoke article 50 straight after the German elections.
There is an excellent article by Juliet Samuel in the Telegraph on the subject,
"Ignore the Brexit speed freaks - this is something which cannot be rushed."
As she writes,
"Although it might be frustrating for passionate campaigners, it would be better to choose our moment carefully, rather than rushing to the exit. A serious commitment to leaving does not require the Government to commit to flying out of the union like a bat out of hell."
Quite.
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