It’s only hard to complete because the UK leaders are the stuff of chamberlain when they need a Churchill.
The EU has never had any desire or impetuous to negotiate a fair separation.
The EU’s survival depends on keeping its members in line and making sure those other uppity nations who dare to think national sovereignty is important. They were never going to let UK leave without making in painful, so painful that no other nation would dare try to leave.
The UK should have been preparing for hard brexit from the day the vote passed. Negotiate with hope it would not come to that, but fully expect and plan for this eventuality. Instead they stuck their noses in the sand
-——Instead they stuck their noses in the sand——
Actually, we do not know what preparations and contingency plans have been developed by those that matter.
For instance, Siemens, a German company with several factories in the UK. These facilities are integrated into the Siemens whole, including their factories in the USA.
I don’t know about Brit firms but we can think of Ford. Ford makes vehicles and probably exports some to the EU and conversely imports some models from the EU. Ditto the USA and Mexico.
Another company that certainly has plans is Shell operating as Shell UK. Shell UK does not have it’s head in the sand
These and other companies operating behind closed doors have certainly made plans to continue beyond BREXIT.