Is anyone to blame for the mess?

So once again Nissan are threatening to cancel a planned investment at its plant in Sunderland.  Well, we know Nissan have form for making threats.  If you don’t join the Euro, we’ll pull out.  If you vote to Leave, we’ll pull out.   

But maybe this time they are not bluffing.  And that is serious.  No doubt Brexit will get the blame.  But is that really the case?   I think not.  But if Nissan are like most businesses, it is not with leaving the EU that they are frustrated with.  Their frustration is with the UK government for not being clear at the outset what it was going to do.  Instead of saying, “Ok EU, we have democratically voted to leave, and our MPs have voted what date we’re leaving, let’s work everything out and get it agreed in 6 months so that businesses both sides of the Channel know what’s happening.  That then gives them and us 18 months to get things on order”.     

Given most well led businesses actually were ready to leave on WTO terms within 6 months of the Referendum having contacted suppliers and customers and worked out the different scenarios, they would have thought 18 months was more than enough.  

But here we are, getting threats from Nissan.  A couple of months from the exit date MPs voted for.  Amazing.  And who is to blame?   

Well, the lazy answer is the EU.  That is partly true.  But they always said they would make it difficult for us.  Punish us so others wouldn’t try the same thing.  So no real surprise there.   

Our own government?  Given their negotiation strategy was actually never about negotiating but about being supplicant to the EU they can take a lot of the blame.   

But the real people to point the figure at are the people we pay to serve us, the civil servants.

Listening to one of them earlier this week saying that "if the EU are unlikely to agree with this, we shouldn't  propose it" left me astounded.  How utterly outrageous.  Surely their role is to speak up for the UK, and fight our corner to the end, not say what we can’t do?  

No wonder the EU is running rings round us if our key diplomats and civil servants have that sort of mind-set.