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We get lost in the weeds but important context is this. The govt’s Brexit policy is the biggest single disruption in the economic policy of the UK since Thatcherism. Whether we have an FTA or not is a question of whether it’s a bit more radical (and potentially disruptive) still.
And there’s a very strong case that in its fundamentals and its speed, it’s more radical than Thatcherism.
One reason it’s radical is because, to some extent at least, Brexit represents a reversal of Thatcherism. A key pillar of her economic policy was profound European market integration (in goods and people). In our withdrawal from the single market that’s being reversed suddenly.
Thatcherite emphases, on the freedom of the individual and firm with regards to Europe are now less important to the Tory Party than state sovereignty. It’s a significant economic and ideational shift from 4 decades of UK orthodoxy, whatever the outcome of the negotiations.
The point is, we’ve got so used to talking about Brexit and gradually become accustomed to the idea of a sharper and harder Brexit over time. It’s easy to forget that for good or ill, it is an abrupt and radical transformation of our national economic policy.
