The reason why Brexit is such a painful process for the UK and may even result in the UK being torn apart in the end is that, the Brexiteers still refuse to accept a simple truth about Brexit. That truth is that Brexit isn't easy and never will be easy. It's a highly complicated disentanglement process between two partners that are hopelessly inequal. We saw this again recently when the UK indicated that it needs to go full rogue state on the protocol for northern Ireland. The question is: are British foodstuffs safe enough to be traded in the EU. The simplistic answer to that would be: well yes of course, the British rules effectively are the EU rules, shouldn't be a problem. But the real answer is that it is very difficult to establish are foodstuffs from the UK are safe; maybe they are, that would be the case if the UK would not diverge from EU rules. But the UK has very clearly stated that it has every intention of not being bound any longer by EU rules. Some British ministers have expressed their lack of concern with chlorinated chicken. So with this stated intention of divertion, how can the EU be certain that as some point in the future the food imported from the UK no longer meets the EU standards? The answer is that we the UK agrees to either not diverge, or give complete insight in how they intend to keep their food standards at least as high as those in the EU. So far that answer is lacking. And divergence remains the golden standard.

So, the word simple really shouldn't be used in relation to Brexit. But Brexiteers keep thinking that Brexit is simple.

And that's why they make such a mess of Brexit.