Reader TTS

Remember Brexit? Oh, it was the hot topic in the before time. Remember that? That time when we could go outside and weren’t afraid to be near other people? How we all long for those days to

return. I miss the days when Brexit seemed important and look forward to it being a point of discussion again. For when the time comes for that indulgence, it means we have got through this

terrible pandemic. Right now though people are dying, the economy is imploding and the government is borrowing hundred of billions of pounds to prevent its collapse. We are involved in an

unprecedented economic and social experiment that will have untold consequences. Whether or not the transition period ends in December 2020 or December 2021 now seems a trivial matter. The

only people still prioritising that and refusing to countenance a delay are dogmatic obsessives. They are the kind of people who would only be placated if the announcement of the extension

of the transition was combined with a declaration of war on France and the carpet bombing of Brussels. They are the head bangers who think the EU is the fourth Reich. There’s never a good

time to worry too much about their preoccupations, but now especially they must be discounted. The prime minster has been so ill with Covid-19 he had to go into intensive care. Michael Gove,

the Cabinet’s captain of Brexit operations, is now in self-isolation due to a family member displaying the symptoms of Covid-19. Even the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier had the virus.

Across Europe EU member states are in lockdown and their economies are being propped up by taxpayer’s money. Now is the time to re-assess priorities. It’s frankly barmy that Downing

Street’s Brexit timetable remains unchanged. Everybody in government must now know it is completely impossible to be prepared for the very sudden and very significant change in our trading

conditions with our most important trading partner. Even if we are as prepared as we possibly could be, there will be teething problems in managing new customs and trade barriers. Risking

disruption to the supply chain when navigating through a global pandemic is grossly irresponsible and risks lives. The best-case scenario is that we will be recovering and rebuilding after

the peak of the pandemic come December. Even if we imagine, and it is the stuff of pure fantasy, that the government has completed all preparations by then — built the infrastructure, hired

and trained the customs officials, hired and trained the border staff, begun to develop our regulatory apparatus — it would still be an act of vandalism to put British business through

another sudden shock. How can businesses that are in lockdown and trying to stay afloat possibly prepare properly for the added bureaucracy and complications of being outside the single

market and customs union? The answer is they cannot. There is no doubt that the British economy will adapt, innovate and change in response to the change that Brexit represents, but they

require a proper transition period and to have recovered from the coronavirus catastrophe. There is currently no back and forth between Brussels and London regarding Brexit negotiations.

EU-UK trade meetings have been cancelled. Brexit readiness meetings within the government have not been taking place. Negotiations are informally on ice. The government will have no option

but to seek an extension to the transition period. This inevitability has only been delayed due the politics of it, but now is not the time for politics. The government should seek an

extension of 12 months immediately and re-deploy all valuable human resources to managing the pandemic. The negotiation over further payments for an extended transition ought to be conducted

rapidly and sensibly. Obviously, there are those citing the pandemic as further proof that Brexit is a mistake and others straight out calling for it to be called off. But the fact of the

matter is that Britain left the EU on January 31st, 2020 and now the negotiation of the future partnership is all there is. Pandemic or not, Brexit has happened, the Brexit wars are over and

when the time is right the new relationship must be negotiated. But now is _not_ the right time.