Lewis Goodall: "Moreover, surely the very fact of our withdrawal shows we were really an independent country all along?"

Andrea Leadsom has written a piece for The Sunday Times headlined Let’s build on the stability that business needs. It begins:

When we wake up on the morning of February 1, we will do so in a UK that is truly independent for the first time in nearly half a century. We will have got Brexit done — finally delivering on the promise made to the British people back in 2016.

The BBC's Lewis Goodall has read it and written the following:

1) Businesses definitely want stability, eg:

  - what our trading relationship will be with our biggest market.

  - what regulatory regime we’ll have.

  - from where/how they’ll get labour.

All open questions as of 1st January 2021. Not much stability in sight.

2) Hmm. From 1st Feb-31st December, Britain will arguably be less independent than at any time in its history, still being part of a legal and regulatory regime with no say at all in how it works. The PM once used the word “vassalage” over much less.

3) Moreover, surely the very fact of our withdrawal shows we were really an independent country all along?