Just be realistic.
Yesterday Michael Gove warned that problems and delays were going to accelerate at the UK’s borders, especially at Dover. Fair enough, there have been warnings about this for years, often rubbished by the Government and Brexiteers as “project fear”, but at least someone has noticed what is happening and decided to act.
But Mr. Gove then went on to say that if the government does everything it can “then we can make sure that we do get to a new normal where trade flows more freely than ever before.” Now I am not the first to point this out but if that sentence ended at the word “flows”, it would be fine. It is obvious that if the Government and business work together, if they can both hire and train the new experts and form fillers they need, if perhaps we ask for a transition period; then trade will get to a new workable normal.
But this can never be a border as free, let alone freer than the previous one. By definition if you change a system and introduce checks, new red tape, more rules and endless form filling, then it will never be as free and smooth as before and it certainly can not be smoother or more free. This is just common sense, not just about the border at Dover but about any system, from booking a Doctor’s appointment to building a car..
So what makes a perfectly intelligent Government minister say these things? How can he believe the border, the control of which he claims is one of the big wins of Brexit, will be more open than previously? The answer is that Brexit is an idealistic exercise, it must therefore mean everything it touches will not just be manageable but better than before; if not actually perfect.
If only some realism had ever entered the debate and the negotiations the UK wouldn’t have to struggle to mend its borders. They would still be less smooth and free than before but they would work, but realism, unlike paperwork, is in short supply.
https://jonty.substack.com/