It is time for Boris to hold his nerve

HOWlong it feels since that historic day on June 23, 2016, when the British people voted to leave the European Union.

Despite the EU and their Remainer allies playing all the tricks in the book – and a few more – to try to reverse the result, every subsequent election confirmed that result.

But now, after four and a half long years of talks, Britain and the EU are into the final 48 hours. It is fair to say that almost everyone will be glad when it is over.

However, instead of the fantastic trade deal which friends and allies should have struck, the EU continues to make unreasonable demands.

It cannot be fair that the EU can come and plunder British fishing stocks and it is certainly an injustice for them to demand that we have strict rules on trade and subsidy while they do not.

It is almost as if people in the EU – and perhaps in particular French President Emmanuel Macron – want to scupper these talks.

After all, how can they not offer the UK even the same terms as Canada?

Former Brexit secretary David Davis, who has experienced this bad faith from Brussels first hand, is right to say that in these last two days of talks Boris Johnson must hold his nerve.

We need him to channel the wartime spirit of Churchill and the “no surrender” watchword, not the appeasement of Lord Halifax.

Let us all hope that the EU sees sense and drops its arrogant approach. In the end if we go on to the so-called Australia rules, with a World Trade Organisation agreement, then it is the EU with a £72billion trade surplus with the UK who will have far more to lose.