by Helen
Tue Sep 6th, 2016 at 12:47:24 PM EST
So, Theresa May has gone to her first G20 summit in China and responded to all questions about the UK's planned leaving of the EU with the appropriately inscrutable statement that "Brexit means Brexit".
Which, as more than one commentator has noted, may be the "what", but isn't an answer to "how". The problem is that the UK Govt doesn't yet know what it wants so can hardly formulate a plan to achieve it. Brexit covers a multitude of positions, some achievable, many closer to fantasy. Until the govt decides where the limits of the possible and desirable overlap, "brexit means brexit" is not repetition for emphasis, it's just a meaningless twice over.
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
As Another Angry Voice points out;-
The Tories clearly didn't bother making a contingency plan for what to do if people actually voted for Brexit. If you didn't believe it before, the fact that Theresa May is still spouting fatuous tautologies like "Brexit means Brexit" ten weeks after the referendum is all the proof you need that the Tories are trying to wing it.
The choice is obvious, the UK government has to agree to free movement of labour in order to retain access to the single market, or they have to quit the single market in order to give the 'Kippers (ukip-nasty) and Biffers (Britain First-very nasty) their wet dream of slamming the door on European migrant workers.
[....]
As long as Theresa May and the Tories keep talking in meaningless tautologies about how "Brexit means Brexit" it should serve as absolute confirmation that these people see you as a cognitively illiterate idiot who will continue, week after week, accepting a meaningless tautological platitude in lieu of anything even remotely resembling an actual plan of action for how the UK is going to quit the EU without either committing an act of reckless economic self-harm (by quitting the single market), or completely pissing off the xenophobic "make the furriners go away" hard-right demographic the Tory party are so intent on pandering to.
A situation that was confirmed when David Davis, the Minister for Brexit, gave his first statement about "progress" in Parliament yesterday
Guardian - David Davis accused of having no plan for Brexit
The secretary of state for exiting the EU has been accused of appearing before parliament without any details of how the government is planning to embark on Brexit negotiations.
David Davis faced a barrage of criticism from MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP after he updated them on the work of his department so far.
[....]
Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "David Davis told us nothing. He read out a few dates in his diary, but anyone looking for Britain's post-Brexit strategy would have looked in vain. No trade deals, no allies, no plan."
So, in amongst all this inaction, the Government must have been distraught to learn that other governments aren't so derelict in their duties.
SkyNews - Japan's Unprecedented Warning To UK Over Brexit
At the start of the G20 Summit, the Japanese government has taken the unprecedented step of warning of a series of corporate exits, "great turmoil" and harmful effects if Brexit leads to the loss of single market privileges.
An official Japanese government task force on Brexit, has collated views of big Japanese companies from car companies to banks and pharmaceutical companies that invest in the UK.
It has produced a 15-page list titled "Japan's message to the UK and the EU", detailing requirements from Brexit negotiations.
The report which is summarized at the location above pulls no punches and states directly that most Japanese companies sited in the UK will have to strongly reconsider their position. A viewpoint which is likely to be reflected across many economies that have investments in the UK. What is interesting is that some have noted that such direct language is unprecedented in a Japanese government report, indicating the urgency and gravity of the situation.
An urgency and gravity in savage contrast to the absence of purpose and direction displayed by Her Majesty's Government.
