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“It’s almost certain that we’re going to end up with some form of hard Brexit,” Mandelson, who served in the governments of former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, told Bloomberg Television at the New Economy Forum in Singapore. [...]
Mandelson said infighting over one part of the Brexit deal stands in the way of an accord. While he didn’t elaborate, he appeared to be referring to the intractable conundrum over how a Brexit agreement would avoid closing the free border between the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland.
“This is crazy stuff, it’s crazy,” said Mandelson, a former European trade commissioner who currently serves in the House of Lords. “We have a government in Britain that’s still arguing amongst themselves, with each other, about one aspect, of one particular issue to do with Brexit, because that goes to the heart of their titanic struggle about how fast we’re going to leave, how great a clean break is going to be our departure, et cetera.” [...]
“The biggest casualty, if this goes on, is going to be Britain,” Mandelson said. “It is not going to do the rest of the world any favors either.”