Monday 16 January 2017

Does it suit the Government to keep us in the dark over Brexit?

This week we may (no pun intended) have some idea what the Prime Minister has in mind over how Brexit will be carried  put
The Prime Minister is expected to give the most detailed insight yet into her approach to the forthcoming talks with Brussels in a major set-piece speech on Tuesday.
Several of Sunday's newspapers claim Prime Minister Theresa May will signal the move inspeech on Tuesday.
Although the exact contents of the speech are said to be a closely-guarded secret, The Sunday Telegraph quoted a government source as saying:
 "She's gone for the full works. People will know when she said 'Brexit means Brexit', she really meant it
However wWriting in The Sunday Times, Brexit Secretary David Davis said the Government would be seeking to forge a "strong new partnership" with the remaining 27 member states.



"We don't want the EU to fail, we want it to prosper politically and economically, and we need to persuade our allies that a strong new partnership with the UK will help the EU to do that," he wrote.He also indicated that the Government would consider some form of transitional arrangement - a move likely to be regarded with suspicion by hardline Brexiteers who have been demanding a clean break."It proves necessary we will consider time for implementation of the new arrangements,"
Which seems a very strange statement if the speculation on a "Hard Brexit" is true because one wonders apart from the likes of Marie Le Pen's National Front (who have their own agenda) what allies will still exit after the UK damages not only our economy  but that of the remaining EU?
Plaid's treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards told the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales programme the impact on Wales would be "devastating".
The Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP said pulling out of the single market and customs union would have a 
"huge impact on jobs and wages in Wales".
He added..
..."The reality of what we're going to hear from [Theresa May] on Tuesday, it's going to be the greatest job-killing act in Welsh economic history, probably in British economic history," 

Meanwhile the latest Welsh Barometer Poll  still shows a Nation divided   you can see it here but as Professor Scully  comments

 Our new poll is the third one in Wales to ask about voting intentions in such a hypothetical second referendum since last June. All three have shown the nation continuing to be very closely divided: 

Poll% Remain% Leave% DK/ WV% Leave Lead
July 2016464113-5
September 20164245133
January 20174344141

he says 

"Perhaps we will see a change when we find out just what Brexit means and  whether there is any form of open Market"/


Though the Barometer Poll seems to indicate Leavers are pretty solid 

“Thinking about Britain’s relationship with the European Union now it has voted to leave, which of the following would you most like to see?”

RemainLeaveOverall
Britain should leave the EU completely and have no sort of formal deal with the rest of the EU3%32%18%
Britain should try to make only a limited deal with the rest of the EU, restricting any deal only to trade11%46%27%
Britain should try to make a wider deal with the rest of the EU, giving Britain full trade access to the rest of the EU, in exchange for allowing EU citizens to live and work in Britain26%10%18%
Britain should try to reverse its decision and stay in the EU50%2%23%
None of these1%1%3%
Don’t Know8%9%12%

As Professor Sculy sates
"So more than three-quarters of Remain voters prefer either a ‘soft’ Brexit or no Brexit at all, while almost four-fifths of Leave voters indicate a preference for a ‘hard’ Brexit. And across the sample as a whole there is no consensus whatsoever: no option wins the support of much more than a quarter of people. Once again, the basic point is reinforced – there is no public consensus about Brexit emerging. Wales – and, one imagines, much of the rest of the UK – continues to be deeply divided about the issue.

We are still in the dark on what form of Brexit we are going to have and if the Welsh Polls are any indication  then it suits Theresa May and her government to keeps us in suspense.

So maybe we may not be any wiser n Tuesday after all.  

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