Once we “leave”, we lose the right to vote on EU law, but during the “transition period” we will still be in the customs union (so cannot enact any trade deals with other countries), still be in the single market (so have to follow EU rules) and there will still be free movement for EU migrants to enter the UK.
We will be paying £1 billion per month to the EU (as we do now) but EU grants to farmers and poorer regions of the UK will end. We will also remain under the jurisdiction of the ECJ.
The transition period is due to run until December 2020, but the Withdrawal Agreement says it can be extended by up to two years if both sides agree, so we could be stuck “without control of our money, our borders and our laws” more than 6½ years after the referendum.
There is no certainty over what follows the transition. Following a general election, a future Government could commit us to permanent membership of the customs union (Labour’s current policy, which would render foreign trade deals impossible).
A future Government could even commit us to permanent membership of the single market. Or a future Government could take us out without a deal in the belief that we would be in a stronger negotiating position after we’ve left (sound familiar?)
So essentially this deal would mean we lose our EU voting rights on 31st October, but almost everything else remains the same, including interminable negotiations about what happens when we fully leave the EU. And bearing in mind we’ve already broken the rule which said Article 50 could only be extended once, there’s every chance that we could be “in transition” beyond 2022.
And finally, if you thought this was all about fish…
The withdrawal agreement keeps us in the hated common fisheries policy “until the end of the transition period” too.
In short this isn’t just a bad deal, it’s a terrible deal. The only deal that’s good for the UK, for you and for me is the deal we have now as a member of the EU.
Image credit Sky News
