THE Prime Minister did not fully understand or sufficiently focus on the EU’s limitations when she entered into Brexit talks, according to a world-leading expert in negotiation.
Harvard Professor Deepak Malhotra said in 2016 that the Leave campaign was based on “lies and false promises”, when he forecast that Brexit would fail. He said yesterday the UK had less leverage than Leave supporters had claimed, and the EU was restricted in the concessions it could make to the UK.
Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Malhotra said Theresa May “could have done a better job” focussing on her own political constraints.
“She didn’t quite understand or sufficiently focus on the constraints and the lines of the other side, so that’s always a big mistake,” he said. The bigger issue was her refusal to manage UK expectations, thereby fuelling the narrative of false promises from the “hard-Brexit crowd” and making it her own, which had consequences.
“First you become trapped in a no-win situation. You’re not going to get what you want, but now it becomes hard to admit that and back down, so you keep doubling down and tripling down.”
He said the second problem was wasting valuable time that could have been spent preparing the UK for what would be a deal that fell short of what Leave campaigners had promised.
“She didn’t prepare her country for what was actually going to be happening and nobody was talking about the reality of the situation.
“Now if you actually win the election, or deal or partnership … you now actually have to deliver on all those promises that helped you get the other side to say yes. This is what the Leave campaign did and what May essentially adopted as her own point of view. In order to stay in power, let’s tell the people what they want to hear. But then, you’re in power and now you have to deliver on it.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel