Britain, the EU, and escaping the state we’re in |
THERE’S a new book out tomorrow from Will Hutton, author and journalist, formerly principal of Hertford College Oxford.
Thirty years ago he wrote ‘The State We’re In’, which unexpectedly became a bestseller.
In that book he decried the Britain which Thatcher had bequeathed after 18 years.
Going against the prevailing wisdom, Hutton showed that Thatcher’s transformation of the British economy had damaged it and divided society.
Manufacturing was wrecked. Everything was monetised, investment collapsed.
He argued that Britain needed a fair society with high investment where people felt stakeholders in it.
It didn’t happen. Blair took up where Thatcher left off.
Hutton’s new book is called ‘Escaping the State We’re In’.
One of Hutton’s proposals, which couldn’t have arisen 30 years ago, is to find ways to get the UK closer to the EU.
He’s pushing an open door on that one because since last autumn, senior figures in the British government have been openly discussing whether it’s better to join the customs union or the single market.
It seems now that those supporting moving towards the single market have emerged on top.
In yesterday’s Mais lecture (called after Lord Mais, a former Lord Mayor of the City of London and Pro-Chancellor of City University), Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, called for closer alignment with the single market, which she said was a “big bet”.
Elsewhere, she has described linking up with the single market as “the biggest prize”.
Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle and Chancellor Rachel Reeves welcome European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic to Downing Street Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire (Jonathan Brady/Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)With opinion poll findings endorsing them, Labour ministers now feel confident attacking Brexit and its consequences.
Brexit has raised imported food prices and damaged exports. It costs the UK billions each year, while suppressing the UK’s economic output by as much as 8% a year.
Reeves said: “Brexit has not been good for Britain and Britain should absolutely align with Brussels.”
However, it’s not a matter of waving a wand.
Serious negotiations about a reset began last summer, but haven’t made any real progress.
What progress there’s been has been one-sided, with Britain agreeing to what’s called ‘dynamic alignment’ in a range of sectors, mainly food, both plant and animal, or, in the jargon, sanitary and phyto-sanitary sectors.
Essentially Britain has agreed to sign up to EU standards in those areas and the EU has accepted British standards where they’re higher than the EU’s.
That said, none of it comes into operation before 2027 and there are several hurdles to clear before then.
So the Irish Sea border will remain for the TUV to use to attack the DUP in next year’s assembly elections.
In the meantime, negotiations have stalled because of a dispute about youth mobility policy which the EU insists upon as a priority.
They want unlimited numbers to be able to travel visa-free to the UK for three years.
Britain’s government is divided on this matter, with the Home Office and Treasury at odds. The Home Office wants a cap on numbers.
There’s also disagreement about whether EU university students should pay the English fees of around £9,500 a year, less in Scotland, or the fee for foreign students, which can be as much as £60,000 for some post-graduate courses.
Britain’s cash-strapped universities claim they could lose up to £140 million a year if EU students only pay the same as British students (Chris Ison/PA)Britain’s cash-strapped universities claim they could lose up to £140 million a year if EU students only pay the same as British students. At present negotiations on the matter are deadlocked.
The British minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, met Maros Sefcovic (remember him?) on Monday to try to make headway, in the hope that a completed deal on agriculture and maybe carbon emissions can be signed in June or July.
The EU, with France in the lead, are vigilant to ensure that Britain does not cherry-pick bits of the single market so that they end up outside it with several opt-ins, as opposed to their carry-on while EU members of being inside with several opt-outs.
It won’t be plain sailing, but the direction of travel is set. Both sides agree it’s to their advantage to have closer relations in trade and defence.
It couldn’t happen soon enough for businesses and farmers here and in Britain, but in the end there’ll still be extra paperwork.
We’ll still be worse off because we won’t have access to EU grants for agriculture, the social fund and much else.
No-one can see the UK rejoining the EU and in Brussels there’s no appetite for contemplating it.
However, here that option remains on the table once the small matter of reunification is resolved.
That option produces a new species of remainer: unionists remaining attached to the declining state that Hutton has written about for 30 years.
People in the north have a way of fulfilling Hutton’s plan – escaping the state we’re in.
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