ONE topic preoccupies the pundits today – the merits, or otherwise, of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. There is a broad welcome for Mr Johnson having achieved some sort of agreement, and others who are simply relieved at signs of progress. But you might have gained an impression the deal itself is underwhelming?
The Telegraph
Not so, in the Telegraph. Few commentators are as enthusiastic about the Johnson deal as Allister Heath on the paper’s front page. Starting out by praising the Prime Minister’s ‘leadership, vision and statecraft’, Heath adds: “by sheer willpower, Mr Johnson and his advisers have delivered a radically better deal for Britain, forcing the EU’s technocratic juggernaut into a screeching U-turn.”
Remarkably, he then catalogues its flaws before suggesting: “It is the best possible Brexit that any prime minister could realistically deliver in the face of this pro-Remain parliament, rigged constitutional stalemate and a scandalously hostile Establishment.”
The Financial Times
Few agree with Heath’s effusive verdict. One dissenter is Martin Wolf, in the FT, who writes: “Theresa May was wrong: a bad deal is far better than no deal.” But the public should still get a chance to veto this one. “With this deal, which implies a very hard Brexit, things will get worse,” he says.
Leaving on Mr Johnson’s terms will give the UK “the illusion, not the reality, of greater control,” he says. It will make the country substantially poorer: “That is not only bad in itself, It is also going to reduce the resources available. to any future government.”
So much, he says, for Mr Johnson’s claim that he wants to do a deal and get on with domestic policy.
“Yes, this deal is far better than no deal. But it is a terrible deal... it is, simply, a monstrous act of national self- harm. It is not good enough to let an exhausted parliament wave it through.”
The Times
Iain Martin castigates Remain hardliners for failing to admit Johnson has done well. However he offers faint praise for the prime minister. “He has done what they said he could never do, reopening the withdrawal agreement and finding an accommodation.”
It isn’t clear what Martin likes about he deal, however. “By necessity it involves a series of compromises. The British side conceded on customs checks, accepting the idea of no infrastructure near the Irish border. The EU accepts that Northern Ireland will remain in the UK customs union, while operating a complex set of EU rules.”
There is still a strong possibility that the deal will fall in parliament, he adds. Despite its limitations, Brexiteer MPs should vote for it, recognising:
“This is the only viable deal there is going to be ... the referendum result should be honoured, that this is the moment of truth.”
The Guardian
Tom Kibasi says Boris Johnson’s ‘triumph’ is based on no more than having made edits to Theresa May’s Brexit deal. “Not for the first time, a man has claimed the credit for a woman’s work,” he says.
Johnson’s plans have every chance of falling apart, he argues, explaining why. “The first weak point is still Northern Ireland,” he says with an inherent instability should UK trade regulation diverge from that of the EU and the Irish Republic. bBut the real mistake is to analyse this deal on its own terms, rather than those of the national interest,” Kibasi continues. “Johnson’s deal is predicated on the fiction that Britain has more to gain from new trade deals with faraway countries than from maintaining frictionless trade with our nearest neighbours, which already account for half our trade, as part of the world’s most powerful trading bloc.”
The hard Brexit implicit in the deal would leave every household £2,000 worse off according to the Government’ sown figures, he points out.
He concludes with a warning to Labour MPs contemplating voting for Johnson’s plan. They can only do that if reassured that worker’s rights and protections will continue – but hardline Brexiter Tories who want them watered down also appear to have been won over, Kibasi says. It is an ‘awfully large’ gamble for Brexit-backing Labour MPs, he claims.
“If Johnson succeeds and proceeds to sell-off the NHS to Donald Trump while slashing workers’ rights and environmental protections then history will put any Labour MPs who allowed it to happen in the top tier of the useful idiots of our era.”
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