Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Why Boris should go for no deal

Boris Johnson has negotiated his way into a corner. With the naïve view that the EU would eventually buckle and accede to the UK’s desires, we are now just over five weeks away from the end of the transition period. The choices in front of Boris are to either cave in to the EU’s demands in order to sign a weak, thin, bad deal – or walk away without a deal. I think he should do the latter.

Of course, there are obvious advantages for the Prime Minister in signing a deal (even a bad one) with the EU at this stage. It would cause slightly less disruption than no deal. And it would leave the two negotiating sides with some goodwill left.

A deal would also put Labour in a tight spot. Any agreement has to be voted on in Parliament, and it isn’t clear if Starmer would support it. Voting against the deal would mean Labour potentially carrying the can for any no-deal fallout. But by voting for the deal, Labour would be tied to its lack of success forever – at least if the outcome of the deal is as bad as I think it will be. Abstain and they look like they are being weak – chickening out of taking a stance on the biggest decision to have faced the country in at least half a century. And whichever route Labour took, there would be infighting within the party.

Yet there are massive negatives for Boris Johnson in signing up to the current agreement available. It needs to be kept in mind just how bad any deal at this point will be for the UK – and when we leave the transition period, the fallout would only be slightly less egregious than if there was no deal.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in