Renew’s man in Europe, Terry Knott, has written to him MP, Gillian Keegan to raise the issue of the Internal Market Bill
Dear Gillian,
As you know, the House of Lords has decisively rejected the government’s Internal Market Bill and this should tell Mr Johnson and his government, of which you are part, that this is emphatically a bad Bill; and one which has caused massive unease and condemnation, across the global community.
Needless to say, the new Biden team, plus the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi have also made their adverse feelings plain; and if the Tories are not careful, this will spill over, into any future trading arrangements, at a time when Brexit and our relations with the EU are wobbling badly.
Apart from my loathing of Brexit, of which you are fully aware, I fully accept that the government must make the best of a bad job, which will involve spinning the end negotiations, to put a brave face on it; “tant pis” as the French would say. But we are now dangerously close to the wire, in our negotiations with Brussels and we cannot afford to keep playing chicken, with 27 other countries.
Whatever the failings of the EU and there are of course some, the good parts vastly outweigh the bad; and Mr Johnson and his colleagues must realise that there is a built in momentum for the EU, that firstly prevents them ‘turning on a sixpence’ and secondly prevents individual countries from keeping up with the last minutes vacillation and manoeuvres of the U.K. Cabinet. In short, you are all treading a dangerous path and I urge you to stop it and consolidate what you have got.
No Deal and all that implies is simply not worth it; and the sad thing is that many of your colleagues are not sufficiently well-informed to realise that; nor for that matter is 90% of the U.K. population.
Finally, we have spent cash, more than equalling our total national GDP, on battling the Corona virus. Now is not the time to add the chaos that will ensue from a NoDeal Brexit.
Let us settle for what we have, with the EU and agree gracefully, a common approach to the future. Whether we like it or not, we have been geographic and economic neighbours for thousands of years and Brexit is but a side show, in the grand scheme of things, whatever Mr Johnson’s ego may be telling him.
Please add your common sense to the plea for reason, versus further aggression.
Yours sincerely,
Terence