Four days ago I wrote to my MP to ask whether she feels sufficiently "fully informed" to register her vote on 11 December for or against the proposed Brexit withdrawal agreement. I pointed out that the prime minister had promised to provide MPs with "the appropriate analysis on which to be fully informed, on which to base their judgement", but that she had in fact published an economic analysis which presents no information for the framework for a future relationship agreed on 25 November, but does contain modelling of her "Chequers" proposal.
The reply - as with the previous two I've received - doesn't really address the question as I'd put it, but it does include some of Ms Robinson's own thoughts along with the standard departmental text.
The letter repeats the now-established formula that "The UK will be able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements with countries from around the world during the implementation period which will come into force after it has concluded". As I noted yesterday, this seems unlikely in the case of new agreements, since sensible countries would want to know the UK's relationship with the EU before deciding what relationship with the UK is appropriate and possible. At least some of the agreements we currently enjoy as an EU member state could be concluded during transition.
One striking line is "In my view, both parties must aim to have all agreements and border issues resolved before 2020". It's not obvious that negotiations will get going in earnest before autumn 2019 when the new EU Parliament has approved the appointment of commissioners and the full Commission, so concluding everything even by the end of 2020 (which I hope she means) looks to be quite a stretch.
Amusingly, the letter ends "This agreement will now be discussed at an EU summit and will be debated by Parliament over the course of the next two weeks". Unless she knows something I don't know about the 13-14 December EU Council meeting, that suggests this text is rather out of date. Oh and, by the way, she intends to vote for the package.
Here, with the single redaction of my address, is the text of the reply.
