Political commentator Keith Rowe has given his view on the prospects of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson succeeding in negotiating a new Brexit agreement, as well as fears of a no-deal exit.
Sputnik: Will Boris Johnson be able to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the EU by 14 October?
Keith Rowe: Unless he’s got some really hidden rabbits in his hat, I think it’s pretty unlikely; unless the EU feel that they are under sudden pressure and give a very basic deal just to get something through, or unless there is something we are really not being told at all - I think it’s unlikely.
The DUP won’t bend on their stance towards the backstop and, of course, the EU have always been happy to have Northern Ireland in the customs union, which is basically a protectionist racket, but I cannot see that that’s going to be acceptable to, not just the DUP, but to many members of Parliament and to the public at large, because it basically starts splitting up the UK.
The whole point of this backstop is that it’s just a mechanism by the EU to try and keep the UK in the EU in one form or another, and the whole thing is a bit of red herring, and frankly the backstop is just a safety mechanism that they put in.
The whole thing really doesn’t make a great deal of sense when you compare it to other land borders, and if they really wanted to, they could do away with it, in honesty the public is fed up with all of this hypothetical talk about backstops, all the procedural nonsense that’s going on with the government and the House of Commons, and the public just want our politicians to stop playing games and to get on with Brexit.
Sputnik: Would a no-deal Brexit be as bad as many pro-Remain MPs claim?
Keith Rowe: What a no-deal Brexit really means is trading on WTO terms, which is how most of the world trade, how we trade with many countries across the world, it would open up our trade routes, and there may be some downsides, particularly in the short term; but actually I think it would be a boon to UK trade. I think this scaremongering is disgraceful in the extreme and it’s just talking the country down.
What businesses really need is confidence to come back up; they need to be able to say: "Right, we've got some future ahead of us, let's trade across the world and let's really show everyone what we can do".
Sputnik: Is the Labour opposition being hypocritical by calling Boris Johnson’s actions undemocratic?
Keith Rowe: It’s total hypocrisy there; Jeremy Corbyn, who is pals with terrorists across the world, from the IRA to Hamas, is no real democrat. He’s been calling and calling for a general election and the minute he gets offered one, he chickens out.
If he was a true democrat and an honourable leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, he would jump at the opportunity to hold the government to account, as he’s been calling for; he’s had his bluff called as it is. But if he were doing the right thing, he would jump at the opportunity to call a general election, to get his party behind it and let the public decide, let’s get on with this. It’s ridiculous.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.
