Very occasionally, though I wouldn’t want to over claim here, common sense breaks out in politics .
Today (19th May 2025) may go down as one of those days when a chink of right thinking broke through the Brexit induced clouds of nonsense that have blighted out horizons since 2016. There will be significant detractors, especially in the fishing industry, but the UK/ EU ( partial) Agreement today is much more than about specific industries, it is a route of travel, a statement of intent, whatever words suit your particular interest. Perhaps a “ glass barrier?” The unsayable has been said:
“ it might be better if we were closer aligned with our nearest neighbours and one of our most important trading partners .”
Of course there is much more that could be said , possibly should be said possibly by historians will be said. Such as “ Brexit is an economic failure, has set back our economy and has created barriers to security and development as well as impacting the life opportunities of young people as time when they are perhaps the most economically challenged generation since the second world war. “
You might guess I didn’t vote for Brexit.
But in a sense it is baby steps and from Scotland’s perspective does not go far enough while impacting upon a sector that is more important here than in the rest of the UK, the fishing industry. It is not as if fishing is further diminished in the agreement as all it does is to extend current arrangements by a further 12 years, but that is not what UK fishermen wanted. They sought further protection and it is not forthcoming. Listen to the Tories and Reform baying about how bad this is for that industry Boris set the agreements post 2016 and it was the political ancestors of the latter who tried to persuade fishermen that by “taking back control” their sector would benefit. Like so many areas, a pipe dream, a sell out. The politics of the polemic before pragmatism and reality. Who needs facts if you don’t like them?
Yet I’ll reiterate these are baby steps but for all that, I sense a turning point. To speak the unspeakable is the point when what is speakable actually begins to address reality. Hands over the ears and “ la la la la” doesn’t really get you very far. The Brexit experiment is being challenged.
Of course politics moves on, even in a culinary sense, in the 60s it was smoke filled rooms and sandwiches taken late into the night, according to the UK head negotiator Nick Thomas-Symonds ( Minister for the Constitution and European relations) the deal was fuelled by a Nando’s takeaway. How the world has changed. Nando’s founded in South Africa and with a Portuguese Rooster of Barcelos as its emblem. You can see Reform bursting at the seams at that, even the food is foreign, clearly an attempt to subvert our British values. Crafty eh? Sneaky even.
But what have we really achieved ? For those old enough to have enjoyed “ Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister” you may have memories long enough to recall the righteous outrage at the EU banning of the Traditional British Sausage ? This deal allows the selling of raw meat and yes sausages back into Europe in more advantageous circumstances. Indeed the whole food industry benefits, which is about ten times more valuable financially than the fishing industry. If, as Kemi Badenoch suggests this is a sell out for the fisheries industry, then what is it for the food industry ?
Some of what we are seeing is smoke and mirrors. Much more symbolic than real. Much will be in the detail. We don’t know exactly what will happen with e-passports yet but there is a move to make it much easier for Brits to travel to Europe on holiday and not have to line up with “ the Rest of the World” ( yuk) to have our passports individually scanned. Does this really matter ? Not much unless you were one of those who voted for Brexit and then were surprised that we were treated as if we were no longer a member of the European Union.
It seems that both the UK and the EU want to make it easier for young people to travel study and work, but the details here are in the language. How do you say you are making it easier without actually saying it ? That absurdity seems to be where we are right now, but then Brexit is the theatre of the absurd.
We need to go far further in terms of realigning ourselves with Europe. Perhaps we will get there step by tiny step. I can’t imagine Labour being brave enough to suggest that we just scrap the incremental approach and just have another referendum on the EU. Though perhaps we could save a lot of time by doing just that.
But it is politics that really interests me here. Michael Gove said the unthinkable at the weekend – perhaps it is time for another Scottish Independence referendum. Just why would he say that ? As ever, who benefits ? Unworthy of me but I could make a suggestion ….
Then there is Reform. This is a very awkward moment for them. The focus of Starmer’s approach is really interesting, the acceptance of it from the EU even more so. I have just dismissed the e-passports approach as smoke and mirrors. Of course it is in the general run of things but symbolically, it could be massive. If Starmer gets change in where we line up with our passports, how is Farage going to successfully argue for his approach to Europe when that will take us back into the long queue? I really hope someone thought this up as a tactic rather than it being a consequential outcome of a random discussion because it hints that someone in the Labour Party has common-sense. The British voters wouldn’t be that petty would they ? 52% of them voted for Brexit, go figure.
In coming to the table the Europeans are showing pragmatism, making some concessions and getting some wins. Forgive me if you are a fisherman but in the much bigger and wider scheme of things here is a sector where both sides have little to lose and much to brag about. The deal from a UK perspective is longer but not deeper for Europe it is a clear win, and we get to export sausage. Is this the first signs of infectious pragmatism ?
There are significant implications for Scotland. If the SNP, Greens and Liberal Democrats can refrain from saying “ I told you so” it will be only at the cost of significant self restraint. From a Scottish perspective this does not go far enough. We are in desperate need of a different approach to immigration. I sincerely hope a P45 is waiting for which ever speech writer put the word “unskilled” into the mouths of UK ministers in order to propose fewer care workers from overseas. They wouldn’t say that about Drs or Dentists, it is a disgrace to suggest that care workers are unskilled. Just as I’m saying Labour may have found pragmatism so they do something that is utterly non pragmatic. Fewer care workers = more stress on the NHS.
However there are so many areas where we have suffered from the withdrawal of European labour. That needs addressing, and urgently.
One of the probable outcomes of Scottish Independence would be to seek return to the EU.
You could argue that going part way there as we are doing now eases the pressure on the Unionist parties by showing that you can get some of the things that Independence supporters want without going the whole way. You could also say that this is demonstrating that Independence supporters are being vindicated by the pragmatism now being exercised.
That makes a case for saying the next logical step is the self governance that would have avoided the pain of the last 9 years. It doesn’t take an act of clairvoyance to suggest that the SNP will be making that case in 26.
