Thick As Mince?

In the interest of balance I read this article from CNN a couple of weeks ago - straight from the horse's mouth - http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/01/opinions/uk-us-brexit-david-davis-oped/index.html. Dominic Cummings described David Davis as "thick as mince"; on this evidence it's hard to disagree.

Take the paragraph describing "an immigration system that addresses the concerns of ordinary working people and fits the needs of business". Does he not realise these are mutually exclusive? Most of those who voted to leave on the basis of immigration wanted an END to immigration not just controlled immigration, whereas businesses need a continuing steam of workers of all skills and of no skills. Introducing quotas or visas won't satisfy business' demands and will just add more red tape for them (which is what I thought we were trying to get away from by leaving the EU?). Introducing a points-based system won't help the farmers that need seasonal manual labour - their staff are mostly unqualified.

Administering any system that tries to manage these conflicting needs will be a nightmare. My guess is nothing will actually change - the Government will cook up a framework that gives the illusion of 'control' but doesn't actually lead to any direct change in the actual numbers. Any actual change we see (and it is happening already) will be due to Britain becoming an increasingly unattractive country in which to live and work due to the hostility directed towards immigrants, the uncertainty around their status, and the collapse in the exchange rate meaning any money sent home is worth less than it was previously. Throughout the past 10 years or so while people have been complaining about immigration the Government has had the ability to restrict immigration from outside the EU to virtually zero at any time but has chosen not to do so. And has it done so since the referendum? Er .. no. This is instructive.

Since Davis wrote the article above we have seen the leaked draft of the Government's White Paper on EU immigration post-Brexit which reveals what an utter mess the Government is in. It suggests that free movement will remain largely unchallenged for the well-off and highly skilled but for the poor and the unskilled it will be severely curtailed. How is that fair? It effectively means that the working class folk of Britain are captive labour with no right to move abroad to look for better working conditions or quality of life. They will remain enslaved to capital whereas the middle classes can still saunter around the globe at will. Do the good folk of the North that voted for this realise that? Come on Jeremy Corbyn - where's your backbone? Freedom of movement is the antidote to the power of unrestrained capital - let's hear you join the Lib Dems in spelling it out and working to keep it.

The leak also reveals that Davis in writing the article above does not even understand the impact of his own Government's policies - the White Paper directly contradicts the claim to "an immigration policy that fits the needs of business" - Business leaders are up in arms over it - the farmers of East Anglia are facing bankruptcy; the construction industry will not be able to fill its vacancies. Davis is becoming an absolute joke.

There is also this line: "ensuring we have regulation tailored to the UK economy rather than to the needs of 28 different economies". Does he not realise that to continue to trade with the EU our exporters will still need to comply with those regulations and we will longer have any input into their formulation whatsoever. That spells a total loss of sovereignty over the terms of our trade with the EU.

And finally this: "Outside the EU Britain will be nimbler, more open to innovation and technological change". How exactly? What is required for that is more investment in skills, training and education to raise our productivity. It has nothing whatsoever to do with being in or out of the EU. This is just vacuous nonsense from a politician who has little understanding of his brief.

Brexit is turning into a car crash. When Mr Barnier complains of wishful thinking and a lack of specifics I can see why when all we have to offer is this bag-full of conflicting and nonsensical thoughts in place of concrete proposals. The EU will run rings around this lot.

Thick as mince? I fear it's even worse than that.