Britain’s Brexit vision should be a free trade deal in exchange for our £39billion ‘divorce’ settlement
Before that comes into effect in 2021 we want a smooth but strictly time-limited two-year transition
A Brexit vision
BRACE yourselves . . . for once the EU has a point.
“What does Britain actually want from Brexit?” is a fair question given that our Cabinet has yet to thrash out an answer they can all agree on.
On Monday they will begin to do just that. But it is clear to The Sun what that vision should be:
A free trade deal in exchange for our £39billion “divorce” settlement, paid in instalments and not a penny handed over until it is formally, irreversibly signed off by the 27 member states.
Not the vague “political declaration” Brussels mentioned yesterday. A deal.
Before that comes into effect in 2021 we want a smooth but strictly time- limited two-year transition.
During it, little would change except for us being newly able — and this is vital — to negotiate and sign trade deals outside the EU, to come into force the day Brexit is final.
And, while we see the point of sticking to certain EU rules to facilitate trade and resolve the Irish border problem, they must not bind us so tightly that we cannot make new agreements with the rest of the world. That would be insane.
We congratulate Theresa May on the progress she has made with the EU against all odds, remaining resolute despite her defeat by 11 self-indulgent Tory troublemakers on Wednesday.
After her election debacle few gave the PM a prayer of getting this far. Some were sure Jeremy Corbyn would be in power by Christmas — Corbyn among them.
Try, though, to imagine him shambling into these historic negotiations in Brussels alongside his bewildered Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer, without a single coherent policy except to hand over a blank cheque.
Actually, it’s probably better for your sanity if you don’t.
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‘Rape’ scandal
IT almost defies belief that our justice system came so close to sending a student to jail for rapes he did not commit.
Nothing like it must ever happen again.
Mr Allan’s accuser must herself be prosecuted and, if convicted, given a prison sentence of her own.
The detective who sat on the treasure trove of evidence exonerating Mr Allan must be fired.
And Alison Saunders, the woeful Director of Public Prosecutions, must explain why her lawyers failed to insist on seeing mobile phone records which would have uncovered the truth long before Mr Allan was brought to trial.
He and his family have endured two years of hell.
Senior figures at the CPS and the Met Police must answer for it.