The economic facts will not care about a change in government. Britain is still going to have to start living within its means, and that is going to mean cuts.
It is a party with no prospect of any majority in the House of Commons, which cannot and will not change a word of legislation – and will put in grave peril the real progress we have made since 2019.
Returns agreements arguably have a bigger role to play; speedier processing is also part of the answer. But to pretend that deterrence plays no part in people’s calculations is silly.
The defeat of these parties is above all a task for the moderate Right.
In the event that Northern Ireland did become a weak link in the UK’s border security, it is not difficult to imagine a future government preferring to start quietly hiving off Northern Ireland.
Let’s not waste money on a duplicate of already existing regulatory infrastructure. Let’s either recognise international standards on these regulations, or replace them with better regulation.
Fortunately, there are plenty of half-completed measures ministers could see through in time for the next election, from recognising product standards to locking in new trade deals.
The continent’s economic woes are confined to the business pages, whilst the scandalous conduct of the European Parliament is simply unreported.
Any significant agreement with the EU would require continuous alignment between Westminster and Brussels in terms of regulation. Will we end up, to coin a phrase, shadowing the Customs Union?
As John le Carré said, falling in love while still at school with poets who write in a foreign language can be quite wonderful.
Far from being a climbdown, the Government’s announcement about the CE mark could be the springboard for a unilateral-recognition revolution.
Too many governments which extol the virtues of democracy in principle seem all too willing to abandon such lofty principles when it suits their base, commercial purposes.
AfD doesn’t need to win the next election to trigger a meltdown – just keep its national support rising toward the 25 per cent mark, where the mathematics of building stable coalition governments stops working.
Too many MPs and civil servants have fought to prevent the UK doing things differently, seeking to keep us tied to the EU whatever the costs.
The UK needs to be prepared for a possible reality in which the EU may be a more significant player in European defence and security.