We’ve had the details ... now get to work

THEY said they wanted more detail about her negotiating position on Brexit – and that’s exactly what she gave them.

For the best part of an hour, Theresa May rattled off her objectives in a huge number of areas: agriculture, fisheries, migration, the Irish border, manufacturing, financial services, energy, science, haulage, nuclear safety, education, culture... You name it.

What emerged was a pragmatic, commonsense approach behind which she has succeeded in uniting Cabinet colleagues as diverse as the europhile Philip Hammond and the Brexiteer Boris Johnson.

Yes, in some areas Britain is bound to remain closely aligned with our partners’ rules and trading standards. But as she pointed out, this is true of every trade deal ever struck.

Crucially, however, the red lines the Prime Minister drew from the start remain intact. Come what may, we will be taking back control of our borders, laws and money – with British judges and a sovereign British Parliament no longer obliged to take orders from Brussels or the European Court of Justice.

For the avoidance of doubt, Mrs May spelled out yet again that this will mean withdrawing from the single market and customs union. And, no, there will be no second referendum. The die is cast. No ifs, no buts.

What a contrast to the cynical, unprincipled shambles of Labour’s new position, in which Jeremy Corbyn says he wants Britain in ‘a’ customs union (not ‘the’ customs union, note, but a fantasy invention of his own, which he preposterously claims will give us all the advantages of staying in the EU while leaving it).

Of course, the pro-EU likes of Tony Blair, Sir John Major, Lord Heseltine, the CBI and the rest will carry on demanding more ‘clarity’ from Mrs May.

But then nothing will satisfy them, short of crawling to Mr Juncker and begging him to take us back on any terms.

As for the rest of us, most will heartily endorse the Prime Minister’s clarion call to the EU: ‘We have a shared interest in getting this right. So let’s get on with it.’

Indeed, there’s only way to describe Tories still plotting to bring her down – and risk installing a Marxist in Number 10: Plain mad.