-Was PM's speech enough to break the deadlock?
The U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit speech in Florence two weeks ago did not yet resolve the major rifts between the U.K. and the EU. It seems the EU expects a stronger commitment, especially regarding the much-reported divorce bill.
Following a meeting with May in Downing Street last week, European Council President Donald Tusk said there is not yet “sufficient progress” in Brexit talks to discuss future trading relations with the U.K. He also said that he would tell member states that there has still not been enough progress towards the EU’s objectives to allow negotiations to move to discussing the future trade deal that the U.K. desires.
Moreover, at the start of the fourth round of Brexit talks on Monday, the EU’s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier said the U.K. would have to give a stronger commitment on settling its financial obligations to the EU before any transition was discussed.
According to British media, EU officials were annoyed by suggestions from Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that said the U.K. could “have its cake and eat it” on Brexit, or have the benefits of the EU without the obligations. Johnson’s article last month in the Daily Telegraph, which claimed the U.K. should not have a transitional deal or accept to pay a divorce bill, have not been welcomed by senior MP’s of his own party. His controversial stance this time might have backfired as his reputation in the international media has taken a hit.
May on many previous occasions has given her full support to Johnson. For example in August, a highly critical column in The Times cited concerns from diplomatic sources that White House officials “don’t want to go anywhere near Boris because they think he’s a joke”. Following the article, May said she has full confidence in Johnson. However, Johnson had opposed the cabinet view of a transitional deal only a few days before the speech in Florence. Moreover, Johnson said the Brexit transition must last "not a second more" than two years as he laid out a series of challenges for May on the eve of the Conservative party conference.
Once again, many consider that he is attempting to challenge the authority of May within the Conservative party. Johnson said there could be "no monkeying around" over the date the implementation phase ends. He also said Britain must not accept any new EU rules or European Court of Justice rulings after March 2019.
It will be interesting to see whether May will keep Johnson in his position or sack him in the weeks ahead. Either way, Johnson has set himself apart from the cabinet while differing from May. With this stance, he could well leave the failure of Brexit on the shoulders of others.
While leadership struggles continue within the Conservative Party, the Labour Party held its annual conference last week. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused May of presiding over “a government in disarray” and declared that the Labour party, revitalized under his leadership, now represents the mainstream of British politics.
Speaking before his party’s first conference since the Conservatives lost their majority, Corbyn said Johnson’s recent Brexit intervention demonstrated that the prime minister had surrendered control of her cabinet, according to The Guardian.
-U.S. tax move and future relations
While May’s government plans to have free trade deal talks with the U.S., Washington has sided with Boeing in its war with Bombardier and proposed punitive tariffs of 219 percent on U.S. imports of the Montreal-based aircraft maker. This decision could easily put over 4,000 jobs at risk in the U.K. as wings of the jets are produced in a plant in Northern Ireland. In response, Michael Fallon, the U.K. defense secretary, issued a stark warning to Boeing that its stance could prevent it winning lucrative defense contracts in the future.
“We have contracts in place with Boeing for new maritime patrol aircraft and for Apache attack helicopters, and they will also be bidding for other defense work and this kind of behavior clearly could jeopardize our future relationship with Boeing.”
According to experts, Fallon’s move on Boeing is not very sensible as the company has production facilities and strong ties with the U.K. Moreover, the many opponents of May have already started to criticize the government’s approach to free trade talks saying that having independent free trade deals have been portrayed as an easy thing to accomplish. Looking at the recent tax dispute between the parties, it is fair to say that the free trade talks are generally demanding, complex and require a great deal of time to achieve.