A pro-europe Brexit that can work for all

In yesterday’s speech, Theresa May proposed a pro-european Brexit – Britain will leave the EU, absolutely, but remain as committed to European partnership and trade as possible. How can the EU reject such an offer? How, for that matter, can those British Remainers who say they simply want the minimum disruption? Mrs May has handed them a blueprint to achieve just that. Her speech gave clear definition to the national interest, and it is time for Tony Blair, Sir John Major and their militant allies to get behind it.

One complaint about the Mansion House speech is that it should have been delivered much, much earlier: the time the Government has taken to formulate its position has been exasperating. But now that it has, its five point framework is well within the mainstream of British public opinion. Most of us want a Brexit that respects the referendum result, is enduring, delivers prosperity and security, opens Britain to the world and strengthens the Union.

Of course, the Prime Minister has to resolve the tension between regaining sovereignty and limiting any short-term economic consequences. Her solution is that post-brexit Britain will largely copy European standards and continue to trade with it on that basis. Some will question the point of leaving the single market at all under such conditions, and there’s no denying that one strong argument for Brexit was the opportunity it would give us to deregulate. But Mrs May’s blueprint will win the UK the freedom to do exactly that – along with control of its borders, money back from the budget contribution etc – and it will be up to a future Parliament, be it Tory or socialist, to decide whether or not to use its new powers. Sovereignty will be restored. So too, crucially, will be the right to secure new trade deals with dynamic emerging economies.

All of this amounts to a far better arrangement than a customs union, which means the Tory rebels who threaten to undermine Brexit in parliament on the grounds of economic pragmatism must now reconsider their opposition. The Prime Minister is certainly not approaching Brexit on ideological terms: she is trying to honour the wishes of the voters and draw up a deal that benefits both sides of the Channel.

This puts the ball in the EU’S court. If they reject this offer, it is they – not the UK government – that make a so-called hard Brexit inevitable, because no deal remains preferable to a bad deal. The negotiations are turning into a test of the European Commission’s ideological commitment to an integrated Europe at any cost. They – not the British – are the fanatics.

The same day that Mrs May spoke in London, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, warned his EU partners in Berlin against becoming an “unstoppable train speeding towards federalism”. Many Europeans know deep down that the Commission can be authoritarian, know that it is motivated by a federalist religion – and they want it to be more flexible, more reasonable in its handling of the British. The EU, however, is unlikely to soften so long as a confederacy of Remainers in the UK continues to push the idea that Brexit can eventually be stopped.

How dare they side with an EU that has dredged up the ghosts of the Troubles in a desperate bid to scupper Brexit? Brussels had nothing to do with bringing peace in Northern Ireland and it has no right to try to dictate the province’s future status, or to place a customs barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the Union. There ought to be common outrage at their interference, and yet some Britons treat the EU’S actions as if they were logical, even virtuous. The time has come to show common purpose, to rally around Britain’s position and tell the Irish Taoiseach and the Commission to back down.

The Taoiseach is a desperate man leading a minority government; the Commission must look at the politics of Germany and Italy, both in the breach this weekend, and wonder what its own future holds. There is stability, security and wealth to be gained if the EU is open to working closely with an independent Britain – and so much to lose if it refuses Mrs May’s new pitch.

Make no mistake: after this speech it will be the EU that is walking away from the table, not Britain.