A welcome end to EU sabre rattling

SINCE the EU referendum, all we have had from Brussels is a stream of angry threats. At every opportunity, grief-stricken Eurocrats have warned of the brutal punishment Britain will face for daring to depart their cosy club.

The received wisdom of the BBC echochamber was that Britain, on bended knee, would have to swallow whatever the EU was prepared to offer.

What a turnaround. Yesterday, as European Council president Donald Tusk set out his draft negotiating position, all the posturing and sabre-rattling disappeared in a puff of smoke.

In its place was a more reasonable and sensible tone, an acknowledgment the EU has much to lose from not agreeing a deal and a determination to ensure Brexit is ‘as smooth as possible’.

In the clearest reversal of all, he said: ‘The EU does not and will not pursue a punitive approach.’

As his letter made plain, the remaining 27 member states want a ‘close partnership’ post-Brexit, particularly on trade but also – in a vindication of Theresa May’s decision to play the security card – on crime and counter-terrorism.

Gone is the rigid insistence that trade talks would not take place until every detail of the divorce is concluded and UK ministers agree to sign a £50billion cheque.

Instead, there are signs of compromise, with the door left open to trade talks starting as early as the autumn, and clear common ground on an early deal for EU migrants in Britain and our expats on the Continent.

Yes, the negotiations will be tough, and the letter was not all sunshine, but there are grounds for cautious optimism.

There is good news, too, for Scots, as the mood regarding Nicola Sturgeon’s opportunistic attempt to force a fresh independence referendum is resolute.

How rich that in her letter to Mrs May, the First Minister referenced the Edinburgh Agreement, which paved the way for the 2014 vote.

Miss Sturgeon was a signatory and it bound the SNP to respect the definitive result – the very result they are still trying to undermine.

But Mrs May is made of sterner stuff than her predecessor and is adamant there can be no discussion of a referendum until the Brexit complexities are taken care of.

Both the 2014 independence referendum and UK-wide Brexit result of last year will be respected. Right-thinking voters will applaud this unshakeable commitment to democracy.