Why can’t @BorisJohnson make a decision on #brexit trade deal with EU

IMHO Answer is because neither option left on the table is economically attractive and yet no third way available

I still recall KPMG COO saying to me a decade ago that if I needed more than a page to try and persuade the Board that a deal was good it wasn’t regardless of what the numbers said

A no trade deal with EU would take many many pages to seem economically sensible (I can see sovereignty attraction to Tory members especially those on protected pensions)

A thin trade deal is less unattractive but would still many pages to try and convince as economically sensible (and it comes with a sovereignty downside)

Only option requiring less paper work for justification/prevarication was the option of “inside single market outside customs Union” but that ship sailed even before the infamous Lancaster House speech

So if you are Boris what do you do - answer is prevaricate and crash out AND hope that future not as bad as feared

Negative scenario is that he/Frost/Gove etc hounded out of office by public disquiet Positive scenario Boris negotiates a rescue deal (the current FTA on offer) that improves from the car crash so popular albeit as a deal still poor and economically damaging as mentioned above

Clock ticking cc @jonworth @DavidGauke @ChrisGiles_ @DavidHenigUK