World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Either Johnson is trying to bamboozle public with jargon or he just doesn’t get how global trade works. Both are bad omens for a new PM.

Trade secretary used to trot out dogma we’ll do just fine trading on WTO terms. But it’s too weak to protect against world trade bullies.

Leaks of government’s no-deal tariff schedules show industries unprotected, future trade talks undermined and a hard border in Ireland.

Brexiters claim public voted for “no deal”. So are they arguing people will be happy to see their weekly shop rise by an average of 7%?

Brexiters say WTO rules make trade in no-deal Brexit easy. But they would hike up tariffs with the EU and could leave UK businesses exposed.

Rejecting a backstop agreement means no Brexit deal, and falling back on WTO rules. They would enforce creation of a hard border in Ireland.

Brexiters’ argument that we’ll be just fine if there’s no deal because we can fall back on WTO has taken a big hit from the president.

Hardliners like Fox used to talk about glorious future. Now they’re reduced to saying world won’t end - hardly rhetoric that won referendum.

Liam Fox plays down “continuity” legislation as way to “guarantee stability”. It’s broader than that, and Parliament needs a say.

Brextremists say no deal doesn’t really mean no deal. So don’t worry about planes being grounded. This only stacks up if we pay £50bn.

PM is irresponsible in failing to discuss with Cabinet colleagues what type of Brexit we should have. This is not how to run a country.

Tory chaos raises risk of no deal. But when public sees that, it may decide it doesn’t want to charge like lemmings over a cliff.