Ellipsis - // In the lace seller scenario, no deal means keep the status quo i.e. remain. //
No, it does not mean that.
What it means is, there are plenty more lace sellers in the town, and plenty more customers, and on this occasion, we are not going to deal together, maybe tomorrow we will, tomorrow is another day, but for now, I am going to look elsewhere, and so is the lace seller, because we are not bound to do a deal and cannot stop until we get one – that is not how negotiations, or trade, works.
If, and it is still if, we leave without a deal, let’s not pretend that the EU will simply pull up its drawbridge, and sit behind it huffing and puffing. They need our trade far more than we need theirs, their traders will be desperately aligning their regulations so that trade can continue with the UK.
We could have entered negotiations from a position of considerable strength – EU, we would like to deal, but we will walk away if we don’t compromise fairly on what is good for both of us in the long term.
That stance would have concentrated EU minds far more, and history will show that that is exactly what the EU teams thought they would have to fight through. What they got was a whipped dog that lay down, rolled over and whimpered and pleaded. The EU, not being able to believe its fortune, laughed and humiliated us every day from then until now, and we took it, because we never hinted at simply walking away and leaving them without the markets to trade, not just us.
That would be in no-one’s interest, which is what PM Johnson knows, and he knows that – better late than never – he can still force a deal because the EU needs a deal, they are bluffing, that’s negotiation.
To return to the lace seller – she may well walk away muttering, bit if she is close to a deal, she can, and will, walk back.
That is the analogy.