Michel Barnier, chief negotiator for the EU, and David Davis the British minister in charge of leaving the EU, have had their first official meeting in the process that will see the UK leave the EU. The discussions come at a time when the UK government is in a minority position in the Commons and will be reliant on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party to gain a slender overall majority of two. Such is the weakness of the PM’s position that the Queen’s speech which starts the new parliamentary session and presents the major legislation to parliament has had to be delayed. Formally, only once the Queen’s Speech has gained majority approval does a government assume power.
Theresa May’s personal position is also very weak, following a disastrous election campaign where she refused to participate in leader’s debates and tended to appear before vetted sections of the public in highly managed events. The clear lead that she enjoyed before calling the election should have translated into a sizeable majority. She called the election asking the British people for a strong majority to enable her to deliver Brexit: she didn’t get it. In some ways, this questions the whole Brexit mandate argument since Brexit, or at least her management of it, has been “rejected” by the people. This means that an already weak UK negotiating position has been further eroded. It has led to calls from within the Conservative Party and business community for a softer Brexit where the mantra of “no deal is better than a bad deal” is laid to rest and the focus shifts to the economy and jobs with some calling for the UK to remain in both the single market and the customs union. The official position (in public at least) is that nothing has changed.
Davis had promised “the row of the summer” as he urged the EU team to negotiate the terms of the UK’s separation in parallel with discussions on trade. In what has been dubbed “the row-back of the summer”, it seems that the UK has abandoned this stance on day one of the negotiations in the face of a united and resolute EU. Discussions will therefore focus on the financial settlement that the UK must pay for its current and promised obligations to the EU; the rights of EU citizens in the UK and those of UK citizens living in the EU; how to avoid a hard border between Ireland and the UK which will become an external EU border after Brexit and protect the Good Friday agreement.
Commenting on the meeting, Barnier noted that it was the UK that wished to leave the EU, not the other way around and each side must: "assume our responsibility and the consequences of our decisions. I am not in a frame of mind to make concessions, or ask for concessions. It's not about punishment, it is not about revenge. Basically, we are implementing the decision taken by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, and unravel 43 years of patiently-built relations. I will do all I can to put emotion to one side and stick to the facts, the figures, and the legal basis, and work with the United Kingdom to find an agreement in that frame of mind."
It would seem that the simplistic jingoism of “the EU needs us more than we need them” and Boris Johnson’s prosecco logic have encountered reality – neither will fare well.