Quote Originally Posted by life on mars View Post
To expand my view ( and thats all it is ) if the EU just dont want us to go ,and they know there is body off opposition in the UK who will never agree any Tory agreement to agree a deal ,they are not stupid as they know the government could be forced into a confidence vote and lose , hey ho a general election the one goal Labour would love ,whose no to say that closed doors conversation have taken place with opposition parties to the Tories over this matter ,with a hint ,hey we could get this turned over with enough bad press ,barriers and no easy resolution ,Labour wins , EU put off any further nations considering a Brexit vote ??

Hey its just a view , not researched .
I don't think the strategic position is that difficult to understand.

The British want to leave the EU on terms that give it a competitive advantage over the EU by having some of the beneficial elements of the single market and customs union it likes but jettisoning some of the others and going its own way with the rest of the world. It is nowhere near ready to do that by the leaving date it self-imposed so wants a transitional period of 21 months before the full effects of its ambitions kick in and to allow a trade agreement with the EU to be negotiated when we properly leave on 1st January 2021.

The EU, recognising the UK short term position is negotiating the withdrawal and transitional period on its own terms, money, citizen rights and above all the Irish Border. In the longer term, recognising that the UK will have another cliff edge approaching on 31 December 2020 will take its time in negotiating a future trade deal with the aim of giving itself a competitive advantage over the UK.

That is why it has offered two models for the future, Norway where the UK pays large sums to retain access to the single market and has to abide by rules it had no say in formulating and no opportunity to strike its own trade deals or a basic free trade agreement similar to that negotiated with Canada (as long as that respects a frictionless Irish Border).

The UK government has already rejected Norway because of its self-imposed red lines around the single market and customs union. Johnson, Davis and their chums are now selling Super Canada or Canada ++ as the answer. Another seductive but false promise which will not get much traction because the super or ++ bits we want from a UK perspective will be seen as -- by the EU who will be offering Canada or the cliff as its likely trade offering.

If you want to call this bullying then if it makes you happy its a free (r) country I suppose.