Jul
9th
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This article was originally written on 6th July 2018, with the title 'Brexit's coming home' and primed for publication today, the 9th July. The title was based on two presumptions: (i) England would beat Sweden in the World Cup quarter final and (ii) the UK government cabinet would fail to agree on its negotiating position with the EU, thus making a 'hard' Brexit more likely. As we know, England delivered on Saturday, but the bigger shock was the UK government's 'Chequers statement' on Friday night. The prime minister Theresa May had seemingly quelled rebellion in the cabinet's ranks and engineered a path for a 'soft' Brexit for manufactured goods (a service sector agreement, covering 80% of the UK's economy comes later) via a Facilitated Customs Arrangement and a common rule book for manufactured goods. Now on Monday 9th July, even more unwanted uncertainty has been delivered following the resignation of Brexit minister David Davis from cabinet and the possibility of open warfare in the UK government.