Labour have sunk efforts to trap us in the Single Market. A compromise should kick the Customs Union can down the road. Which leaves the ‘meaningful’ vote.
Some Italians hoped Brexit would make Brussels realise it had gone too far. Instead, the EU elite has doubled down, regardless of troublesome voters.
And most EU member states haven’t spent nearly enough time really thinking what the future relationship between the UK and EU should look like, either.
There are two options under consideration. One in particular, the partnership model, is unworkable and unacceptable. It should be put out of its misery.
Can we really imagine ministers rejecting Justin Trudeau’s trade deal offer, or one from the American administration, or from Australia and New Zealand?
Despite talk of the negotiations getting bogged down, the French president seems to understand that the process is about politics more than legal complexity.
To listen to some commentators a few weeks ago, you’d have thought it was only EU membership – not shared interests and values – that brings allies together.
It’s imperfect – consider fishing. It’s incomplete. It means kicking cans down the road. But that approach is sensible – and, crucially, it is working, bit by bit.
From its range of tailor-made trade deals to its habit of allowing Member States to break the rules, Brussels is more flexible than Barnier’s rhetoric might suggest.
Whitehall has at times imperilled its reputation for neutrality, but there remains a positive ‘can-do’ attitude about Brexit. The Government should harness it.
It’s often suggested that the Remain wing of the Cabinet wouldn’t wear such a choice. I doubt it.
Even Whitehall’s fiercest advocates of the need to stay as close as possible to the EU recognise that there are risks in being a rule-taker not a rule-maker.
Adonis claims that morale Civil Service morale is in free fall. In fact, November’s Civil Service Survey showed staff engagement was up to its highest level since 2009.
The Conservatives should spend more time exposing the divisions on the Labour benches and less time arguing among themselves.
Its behaviour suggests that it is actually quite keen to do a deal, and is becoming more aware of the limits of what can be pushed through the fragile British system.
