I have to say Theresa May delivered a good speech and it did have the detail that most of us sought. However it did have elements of 'cake and eat it'.
We all pretty much accepted that we were leaving the single market and the customs union,the former because we want to control immigration and our own law making and the latter because we want to do free trade deals with the rest of the world,in hindsight,it was obvious.
But,and its a big but,she wants a form of customs union which allows us to pick certain categories of product,car parts and bank trading,where she wants special deals allowing us to free trade with the world and also continue tariff-free with the EU....I just cannot see the EU agreeing to this. They have many anti-dumping tariffs (otherwise known as German trade walls) that if removed would allow parts to flow freely from China to Germany,via the UK,without tariff...it seems improbable that the Germans would agree to that.
So if we dont get what we want we will reduce corporation tax to 10% to hurt us all,that sounds like the start of a vicious trade war.
The £ strengthened today on the back of Theresa May's speech,but it was supported by higher than expected inflation figures (we could all have told them that),no doubt the BoE will put up interest rates. And also Trumps tweets causing anxiety in the US hitting the dollar.
It seems who can make the biggest mess first,Trump or May,as to the effect on the £ v $.
Some seem to think May's speech is a done deal.I think it is the first rung of a tall/steep ladder,with lots of rungs missing on the way,and easy to fall off the top.
Interesting days.
KudosDave