Brexit for the time being
Today, ministers hope to secure a temporary arrangement with the European Union, allowing Britain to maintain cross border trading for a period of time after Brexit.
Amid numerous talks of economic disruption from political commentators, ministers hope that securing a temporary deal will create stability for the time being, with Brexit secretary David Davis saying this measure would prevent trade disruption, and that the arrangement is “in both sides’ interest”.
On Sunday, secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox and chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond published a statement in the Sunday Telegraph, stating that Britain would be outside the customs union during the post-Brexit transition phase and at that point it would be “a ‘third country’, not party to the EU treaties”.
Speaking today, after the day’s round of talks had begun, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt stated that ministers desires to be “in and out” of the customs union within invisible borders is “a fantasy”. There are also indications from the EU that it will be difficult to reach an interim agreement until progress has been made on the terms of withdrawal from the European union
Any temporary arrangements would also likely mean that Britain could not make any new official trade agreements with countries outside of the EU until the ‘interim’ arrangement is over, should it happen at all.
Nothing more than silly season
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative party backbencher was asked on Radio 4 on Sunday whether he would be launching a leadership bid.
Speaking on the Broadcasting House program, the Tory traditionalist said that the speculation that he would be the next Labour leader was “a reminder that it’s August”, saying that people had nothing better to write about as it was “silly season”. Silly season is a term to describe the summer season where the media often has a lack of hard news to report on, leading to less important stories being reported.
The end of the Garden Bridge
Yesterday marked the collapse of the London Garden Bridge project, a venture which saw £37 million of public money spent without a single brick being laid, amongst fierce debates, with objections to planning and political arguments raging on for the past four years.
The London Garden bridge plans
After Sadiq Khan effectively pulled the plug on the project by announcing he would not be providing the budget needed for the project to be completed, actor Joanna Lumley, who originally conceived the project, and Boris Johnson, have been vocally critical of the major’s decision.
