The biggest problem is the UK is forbidden to negotiate with other countries until it has left the EU.
It's pretty dumb.
I believe I mentioned a few pages back; The first thing the UK should have negotiated is an exemption to that rule, so they could prospectively make trade deals with other countries before leaving the EU. The rule was written with a mind for countries remaining in EU, not leaving, so isn't appropriate for UK to observe it.
The EU would hold a lot less bargaining chips if the UK was able to circumvent that rule. Which is why I suppose they are so strict to enforce it.
As to starving? Britain was not set up logistically for international import/export rules. The import of food and medicine relied on no borders. Apparently a lot of work has gone into upping processing on both sides of the border, so while still problematic exiting on WTO rules wouldn't be quite as much of a disaster.
If we could leave Europe without sacrificing rights (except perhaps freedom of movement - one of the biggest selling points of Brexit was control of borders), do it at the start of 2020 (lets let those pending tax laws sting dodgy billionaires) and be able to have prenegotiated trade deals with blocs apart from just EU that would be great.
If shit hits fan, I'm just gonna retire to one of my Greek island residences *BIG SIP*.
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