"Let’s imagine a group of politicians — call them Vote Leave — promise we can leave the EU and still have “free trade with minimal bureaucracy”. Let’s imagine that, four years later, the government builds a 27-acre lorry park in Kent..." (no paywall) https://www.ft.com/content/b45525dc-0d9b-4c22-80b7-1c397cc23473

"Let’s imagine the government estimates that customs declarations alone will cost companies £7bn a year. That's £135m a week...."

"This is minimal bureaucracy in the same way that Britain has a minimal coronavirus death toll. What was it Mr Gove said? “Politicians like me must take responsibility.”

"Captain Foresight. Nearly every expert predicted that leaving the single market and the customs union would require regulatory barriers and restrictions on travel. Brexiters like Mr Gove obfuscated."

"This week reality could be avoided no longer. The government advised people travelling to the EU next year to buy insurance, check roaming charges, and see a vet four months in advance if they want to take their pet. It also published a 206-page guide for trading goods."

“In almost all cases, Brexit will create additional financial or other cost burdens for [manufacturing] companies: tariffs, customs declarations, certification costs, audits to ensure rules of origin compliance, loss of collaboration opportunities in R&D, border delays,....

.... EU customers switching to other suppliers, visa costs for EU workers, and so on.”

"This isn’t Brussels red tape. It’s our own independent, world-beating red tape, which we have chosen to tie ourselves in, like a middle-aged man with a new-found leather fetish....

...Just months ago, Mr Gove and Boris Johnson were promising no checks on goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Now they admit that there will be checks, at least one way. Why does the prime minister's Latin never extend to the words mea culpa?"

"Dominic Cummings, strategist of Vote Leave and now Mr Johnson’s chief adviser, likes to recommend Philip Tetlock’s Superforecasting. I wonder if he’s read it. The book describes a taxpayer-funded contest where people are judged by their ability to predict world events...

...Since Brexit campaign, UK has run its own version. Leavers predicted that laws of economics, geography and EU would all change. Trade experts laughed. Leavers also predicted a trade deal with China, Turkish membership of the EU, and no support for Scottish independence..."

“Failures of policy and judgment have put previously existing elites in the dock,” Mr Gove. Enough of blaming yesterday’s politicians. Warwick Uni researchers concluded that Leave areas have suffered biggest economic hit since the vote. Who should residents hold responsible?"

"I super-forecast this: in a year, Leavers still won’t have taken responsibility for the damage. “If you beat your head against the wall, it is your head that breaks and not the wall,” said Gramsci....

...Brexiters have spent four years beating their head against the wall and it is still standing — right next to the lorry park." https://www.ft.com/content/b45525dc-0d9b-4c22-80b7-1c397cc23473