Jacob Rees-Mogg, the satirically titled minister for
Brexit opportunities.
On a visit to the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone,
hi -vis gil et over his double-breasted suit, Rees-Mogg
announced that the government was delaying yet
again the imposition of post-Brexit border checks on
imports from the EU. He asked the public to celebrate
this decision, on the grounds that it would save £1bn
a year and help hard-pressed consumers by avoiding
an increase in the cost of imported food. Enforcing
post-Brexit checks, said the minister , “ would have
been an act of self-harm ”.
You read that right. Jacob Rees-Mogg, arch-leaver
and longtime loather of the EU, is now parroting
lines from the remain campaign. He is admitting
that implementing Brexit in full, honouring the 2016
promise to take back control of Britain’s borders, would
be “an act of self-harm”.
There’s plenty to attack here, starting with the
nerve of hailing this move as “saving” Britons £1bn,
when this was £1bn that Britons would never have
had to spend at all if it hadn’t been for Brexit. Or you
could share the outrage of British farmers , appalled
that, thanks to Brexit, they have been left at a serious
competitive disadvantage: they now face onerousand costly checks when they ship their goods across
the Channel, while French, Italian or Spanish farmers
face no such hassle moving their products in the other
direction. Or you could worry along with the British
Veterinary Association, which warns that not checking
food imports leaves Britain exposed to “catastrophic”
animal diseases such as African swine fever – a risk
that was reduced when Britain was part of “ the
EU’s integrated and highly responsive surveillance
systems ”. Or you could join the lament of the UK Major
Ports Group, whose members have spent hundreds of
millions of pounds building checking facilities, which
now stand unused as “ bespoke white elephants ”.
But put all that aside for a moment and grasp the full
meaning of Rees-Mogg’s admission. He and his fellow
Brexiters once looked forward to these border checks,
seeing them not merely as a price worth paying for
leaving the EU but as a genuine benefi t. Britain would
at last be free to set its own food standards, superior to
the EU’s. And yet now the minister admits that putting
up barriers just makes food more expensive for British
consumers and risks bankrupting British farmers:
precisely the act of self-harm remainers
always said it would be. The irony of
hearing Rees-Mogg declare that “ free tradeIt’s the last days of Rome for this shameless government Marina Hyde, page 3
Who rules the waves? On the Clyde, it’s no longer clear Ian Jack, page 4
How Jerusalem redefi ned this green and pleasant land Charlotte Hig gins, page 5
The Guardian Saturday 30 April 2022
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guardianliveOpinion
and ideasEven arch-leavers now admit
that Brexit has been a disaster
The defi nition of a gaff e is
when a politician accidentally
tells the truth. So ruled the
veteran Washington journalist
Michael Kinsley, who would
surely take delight in the
textbook example of the form
served up on Thursday by
Jonathan
Freedland