Phillip Hammond’s comments this week that Britain could change its economic model after Brexit negotiations have confirmed once and for all that we made the vote to leave the European Union completely blind.
Talking to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag he unleashed a thinly veiled threat that Britain could use its corporate tax as a form of leverage in Brexit negotiations, possibly becoming the tax haven of Europe if it is shut out of the EU’s single market.
But is that really the post-Europe vision people in Stoke-on-Trent voted for in June? Is that really what voters in Sunderland imagined Britain would become?
The government’s economic standpoint on Europe is yet another post-truth fed to voters in the run-up to the election for independence. Add it to the pile of promises to cut immigration, spend more money on the NHS, save money on energy bills etcetera etcetera.
Although Ed Miliband is in no place to talk when it comes to enshrining pledges on inanimate objects, he did make a valid point that “Let’s give billions more to big business in tax cuts” was definitely not on the bus.
Fairly sure ‘Let’s give billions more to big business in tax cuts’ wasn’t on the bus…
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) January 16, 2017
The reality is, as satirical news site NewsThump wrote back in September, “Brexiters who say ‘you lost, get over it’ are still waiting to discover what they’ve won”.