The plan to bring back the blue cover for the British passport once the UK has left the EU in 2019 is ridiculous nostalgic pedantry driven by aging and inward looking Eurosceptic loonies who prefer to live in the past than look to the future. And Theresa May’s description of the old-school travel document as an expression of “independence and sovereignty” was just plain silly.
She was soon pulled up on her daft words by the European parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt who pointed out that there was no Brussels legislation that dictated the colour of our passports. Once again, as with so much about Brexiters who keep boring us rigid with claims of wanting to “take back control” facts are glossed over if not downright ignored.
For another sterling example of this just look in the direction of David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the Union. He appears to be having a monumental struggle with facts at the moment. I want to call him a bare-faced liar but as my lawyer points this would be fair and unwise at this stage, so I shall refrain from doing so. Please forget I ever mentioned it.
He recently claimed that Brexit impact studies do not exist. Yet a response to a Freedom of Information request reveals that the Brexit Department claimed it was preparing these assessments as far back as November 2016. Additionally, journalists have found several references in Hansard, the official record of parliament, about ministers working to assess the economic impact of Brexit.
MPs asked for the 58 assessments to be handed over for scrutiny but were given an 800-page document that only sets out the current situation. So, either the documents exist, and Davis has told MPs a monumental whopper (tsk tsk) or they don’t exist, in which case that seems rather short-sighted if not downright stupid not to gauge how our departure will affect the economy of numerous sectors. When, oh when will this government and Brexiters stop making us a laughing stock on the world stage?
