“It took Canada twelve years to get their negations finalised, so ten years might be seen as positively speedy!”
Exactly. Politicians (and their Learned Friends) revel in prevarication, complication and prolonged negotiation. It makes the politicians feel important and M’Learned Friends wealthy. During the twelve years mentioned, life went on and business went on with it (the UK, by the way, developing to become Canada’s biggest export market in Europe, despite the "disadvantage" of there being no trade agreement between us).
Anything to do with the EU takes 28 times as long as anything else. This is because all 28 members have to debate, discuss, agree, disagree, modify, abolish and veto every full stop and comma changed in any agreement. By the time a UK:EU trading agreement is reached (if it ever is) the EU will have lost large amounts of trade and the UK will have forged agreements with other nations (which it cannot do at present). So it’s not a big deal. So long as we (a) cease paying for the EU circus and (b) cease to be subject to any of its rules then it does not matter too much about the rest. Life will go on, business and trade will go on (but I’m not too sure about the EU itself).
“When Greenland, a country with a population smaller than that of Uxbridge and an economy based essentially on a single industry (fishing), withdrew from the EU in 1985, it took three years to negotiate its future relationship with the bloc. “
Which proves my point precisely. Business cannot fanny about for years on end waiting for politicians and lawyers to improve their kudos and bank balances. Life goes on despite politicians, not because of them. The EU is probably about the most sclerotic and moribund major organisation on earth. It is not fit or the 21st century (and it is my view that it was not fit for the late 20th either) and nobody would miss it too much (apart from the people drawing huge wheelbarrows of cash from it) if it ceased to exist tomorrow. They've simply been taught to believe otherwise.