Brexit Basics 9: update 1st October

Another of our occasional updates of news and comment on Brexit.

The UK Dimension

“So what will Brexit really mean?” asks The Economist – and suggests that the answers so far are pretty vague. On 5 September, David Davis, Secretary of State for Brexit, told the Commons that it meant leaving the EU and taking back control of borders, laws and taxpayers’ money:

“Yet when asked specific questions—Would Britain quit the EU’s single market? What migration controls would it seek? Would it stay in Europol? When would negotiations start?—he gave only vague answers.”

Moreover, when she was in China for the G20 summit the Prime Minister “disavowed several pledges made by Brexiteers before the referendum”: an Aussie-style points system for EU migrants and Leavers’ promises to transfer saved EU budget payments to the NHS or scrap VAT on fuel bills.

Sunday 2 October marks 100 days since Britain voted to leave the EU, (but not the Single Market), and In that period it has not been possible to sort out the relatively simple matter over which of the Brexit ministers has the keys to Chevening House. On the more complex issues, we don’t appear to be very much wiser now than we were at the start of the process. Politically, some useful pointers may be given at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, 2-5 October, but we suspect that much of the strategic internal party manoeuvring will have taken place before 14:30 on Sunday and the Opening Session “Global Britain: Making a success of Brexit; speakers: The Prime Minister; Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union; Secretary of State for International Development; Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Addressing the legal issues is another matter.

UK Parliament and the courts

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