This agreement is a travesty
The UK's deal is making Brexit look less and less likely, says Peter Divey.
Phase 1 of the EU negotiations are concluded and the EU is already mocking and gloating. May has conceded on every single point.
Transition is just a fancy word for "not out". As Donald Tusk has already said the UK must pay, must accept all EU law and will have no input. Can't really see the point of this "transition".
UK citizens will have a lesser status than EU migrants. I do not relish being a second-class citizen in my own land. EU migrants will have legal redress that is not available to them. The ECJ will continue to have "oversight". EU migrants will be able to bring in family members and children from abroad and quickly and easily establish settled status. These rights are forbidden to UK citizens, who have to jump through more hoops. In some cases, UK citizens are denied this right flat out.
PM May says concessions have been yielded on both sides. Not really. That is a twisting of reality to minimise the losses and walk backs. Our red lines are gone. Our pink lines are gone. The EU has out-foxed us. They set up lines which were meaningless, then retreated to the actual final sturdy barricade. UK citizens can now locate within different countries in the EU, what an amazing win for May. Does the UK Supreme Court have "oversight" of UK migrants in the EU? Of course not. We had no fall-back position, it was red lines or bust. And busted they were.
Phase 2 of the talks should be fun. Once a pushover always a pushover. Juncker, for once, was not drunk when he said May was a tough negotiator. He was stone cold sober. And lying.
The UK does not have control of its borders, of migration, of its own law. This is the Governments idea of "out" from 11pm, 29th March 2019. It will only be downhill from here. My prediction? Transition will be extended because of special extenuating circumstances. The plan is to dilute Brexit away, stall and hinder, until the political system feels confident enough to openly declare Brexit dead. It always was. Welcome to the new world; much the same as the old one.
