The government is very clear: Britain will leave the European Union and immediately take back control of its borders, laws, and economic affairs – just as voters intended when they voted Leave in last summer’s referendum.



Statements in recent days from 10 Downing Street, the Home Office, the Treasury, and the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) were unambiguous about what exactly lies in store for businesses and citizens the day after the UK leaves the union.

Or not.

Over the past week or so, a complicated argument between politicians from different government departments about the nature of a transitional period – between Britain formally leaving the EU and a new regime taking full effect – has added to impressions of a cabinet deeply divided and confused about the UK’s position on Brexit.

For months, experts and Whitehall officials have been saying there will have to be an interim phase during which the UK's current legal and economic setup is maintained so the country doesn't suffer a catastrophic jolt when it leaves the bloc in March 2019. Britain simply won't be ready, and a trade deal with the EU won't be finalised, in time, the experts say. And cabinet ministers now appear to agree.

But a series of apparently contradictory statements has left pundits and analysts struggling to make sense of exactly what the government wants a transition period to look like. And for the ordinary citizen, the position has been almost impossible to fathom.

On migration, comments by home secretary Amber Rudd and chancellor Philip Hammond seemed to leave open the possibility of EU citizens living and working unrestricted in the UK for several years after Brexit. But 10 Downing Street insisted that free movement of EU citizens will definitely end in March 2019. And Liam Fox, the trade secretary, told the Sunday Times he hadn't been party to any cabinet agreement on extending free movement, which would not "keep faith" with the referendum.

Freedom of movement will end, the government insisted, but Europeans might still be able to move freely. Huh?



If that was clear as mud, so was the position on trade.

During a transition, goods will move back and forth to the EU as easily as they do now, Hammond told the BBC, even though Britain will immediately withdraw from the EU's single market and customs union. That is hard to square with the emphatic insistence by Michel Barnier, Europe’s chief negotiator, that “frictionless” trade is impossible outside the single market.

Another apparent contradiction: The chancellor told business leaders he was seeking a quick, “off-the-shelf” transition deal that would preserve the status quo for several years, according to the Financial Times. There wasn't time to negotiate anything else, Hammond reportedly told the business leaders. But Downing Street and DExEU pushed back on that, saying the UK would not settle for anything less than a bespoke deal.

And while Fox and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, championed the opportunities for Britain to strike free-trade deals with countries like Australia and the US, Hammond said such agreements won't come into force until a transitional period finishes. One of the main reasons Leave campaigners gave for leaving the EU, in other words, won't take effect for years after Britain leaves.

BuzzFeed News tried to clarify the apparent contradictions with several government departments, but they didn't shed much light. One government spokesperson said: "As the prime minister and [David Davis, the Brexit minister] have made clear, we believe an implementation period is in the interests of both the UK and the EU, to ensure we avoid any cliff edge as we move to our future partnership. While the precise nature of this period will be subject to the negotiations, we will not be seeking some form of unlimited transitional status. That would not be good for the UK nor for the EU."