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With the election campaign in full swing and due to last for nearly another month, actual Brexit news – as opposed to snappy slogans, disingenuous claims and unfulfillable promises – was at something of a premium.

The EU launched legal action after Britain failed to nominate a candidate for the European commission, and the outgoing European council president, Donald Tusk, called on anti-Brexit campaigners to keep fighting in the run-up to the polls.

Somewhat embarrassingly, Tesla cited Brexit uncertainty after choosing Germany rather than the UK as the site for its new European plant – and Australia (backed by 14 other countries) demanded compensation for Brexit trade disruption.

Otherwise it was all pretty much what you’d expect. The Conservatives pledged to cut overall immigration (but dropped any idea of a target) and increase spending on neglected towns. They also shelved a corporate tax cut in favour of public spending.

The PM continued to repeat a limited selection of election soundbites, including the meaningless promise to “get Brexit done”, and was rightly given stick for a string of inaccurate statements. (He wasn’t the only one: Michael Gove, too, was accused of lying about EU citizens’ NHS rights).

On the Labour side, Jeremy Corbyn promised to outspend the Tories with a £26bn rescue plan for the NHS and made headlines with an ambitious plan to nationalise part of BT and provide free broadband across the UK.

It ran into predictable trouble, however, after Unite’s Len McCluskey said victory in the general election would require a tough line on free movement. Corbyn said the party’s manifesto would allow “a great deal of” – but not altogether free – movement.

For their part, the Lib Dems found themselves in difficulty over their insistence – against the wishes of some candidates - on standing in highly marginal seats held by Labour over the Conservatives, and for selective use of polling data in their leaflets.

What’s next

No change from last week, really: Johnson’s stated plan is to secure a majority big enough for him to get his Brexit deal through parliament by 31 January, then negotiate the UK’s future relationship with the EU – including a new trade deal – before the end of the transition period in December 2020.

The polls suggest he could be on course to accomplish the former, but there isn’t a serious trade expert alive who would bet on him achieving the latter. Since the PM has said he will never extend the transition period, this raises questions about what happens at the end of next year if the trade deal has not been agreed (and ratified).

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In the Guardian, Anand Menon and Catherine Barnard say Johnson is deluded if he thinks he can “get Brexit done” in a hurry:

With a majority, he should be able to pass his withdrawal agreement bill in order that the UK finally leaves the EU on 31 January. So far, so simple. Yet Brexit will at this point be far from “done”. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has accepted that a “basic free-trade deal” could possibly be negotiated by the end of next year. Yet this raises numerous questions. For one thing, a basic deal on tariffs would risk falling foul of EU member states worried about the danger of Britain having tariff-free access to the EU market but able to cut standards, including workers’ rights. For another, the government has repeatedly claimed it is seeking a “best-in-class” trade deal. And the UK has a major interest in a much broader trade deal, covering services and internal security matters, such as access to EU databases, which have proved essential for combating international crime. All of this points to the UK wanting a much more substantial and wider-ranging trade deal than the basic model. And this will take time – maybe years. The prime minister argues the UK is in a unique situation: it starts from a position of alignment with EU rules. But this is a red herring. Never before has a state negotiated a (less than) free-trade deal distancing itself from a major trading partner; the EU will wish to scrutinise very carefully what dealignment actually means in practice. Expect, also, each national capital to come up with its own list of desiderata, and ratification to be particularly tough. So the choice is clear: either a lengthy process that will belie the idea of “getting Brexit done”. Or a short, sharp negotiation ending with a short, thin agreement that raises the prospect of years of adjustment.

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Anti-Brexit journalist Ian Dunt lays it on the line: