At the beginning of what has been a historic week, Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer gave a speech setting out Labour’s position ahead of the negotiations on the UK’s departure from the European Union. The six tests that will determine Labour’s response to any Brexit deal included whether or not it delivers the “exact same benefits” as the UK’s current membership of the single market and customs union – a clear attempt to harden Labour’s position since the rebellion by many of its MPs during the votes on the Article 50 Bill earlier this month.
After criticism in the media that Labour were seeking to sabotage Brexit by setting impossible conditions for their support, David Davis and Theresa May went on to adopt similar rhetoric. The Prime Minister said in an interview with Andrew Neil that she is seeking a deal that would bring the same benefits on trade as the UK has at present. This is certainly ambitious, and some would say wishful thinking. If the EU agreed to such a deal, it would undermine the very existence of the single market, and hence is likely to be resisted. Indeed Michel Barnier has already said the UK will end up in a “less favourable” position that at present.
Wednesday was of course the big day. Nine months and six days after the UK voted to leave the EU, Theresa May formally invoked Article 50 and initiated the process of our departure, much to the delight of the eurosceptics both in her party and beyond.
A letter was hand delivered to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, at the same time as the Government published its contents. The Prime Minister then gave a statement to Parliament. Yet despite the fanfare, we were still left knowing little more than we did beforehand.
Theresa May’s six-page letter appears at first glance to be comprehensive, but covers little new ground. Conspicuous by its absence was any direct reference to immigration, widely seen as the key issue that led to Brexit in the first place. Perhaps this is intended as an indication that border control is not up for negotiation.
It didn’t even take 24 hours for Hollande and Merkel to push back against the UK’s proposed negotiating plan and timetable - creating yet more obstacles for Theresa May and her Ministers to navigate.
To round the week off, the Government published its White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill; bizarrely named given it is primarily concerned with transferring EU law rather than repealing it. Whilst largely a statement of the obvious, the paper does give a sense of the scale of the legislative task ahead – indeed it is hard to see how Parliament will have the time to debate much else besides Brexit in the next few years.
After nine months of almost back-to-back Brexit coverage, voters could be forgiven for being fed up with the whole thing. More, however, is yet to come. Despite the finality of some of this week’s events, the real work hasn’t even started yet.