Now is the moment of truth for Brexit

For more than two years, politicians and – often in fury or despair – British voters have been gripped by the nature of this country’s Brexit deal with the EU. But now the hour is approaching for that deal to be unveiled, something different is being openly discussed: no deal. Lord Hague, in his column opposite, says that, if push comes to shove, Remainer ministers should join in fully preparing the country to leave without a deal. Gordon Brown weighed in yesterday to thwart the 2016 vote. Even Jo Johnson’s Friday resignation was ultimately a reflection on the merits of walking away.

That is a profound change. A kind of political

omertà has hung over the subject since negotiations began. It was the end game that dared not speak its name. If no deal was spoken of at all, it was written off in monolithic terms: a catastrophe to be avoided at all costs.

Now we find that there are just as many nuances to “no deal” as to the real deal – should the latter actually exist. For at this stage there must be a genuine concern that, after the late-night talks, the shuttling between London and Brussels, Theresa May will struggle to bring home anything worth discussing in the Commons, let alone ratifying there. In Cabinet, support is peeling away on all sides. It is possible that Mrs May could – as early as today – present her ministers with 99 per cent of a plan that no one likes, concede that the other 1 per cent, over the Irish backstop, is a largely dishonourable fudge, and dare them to resign.

If she did, it would at least – and at last – give the country a text on which to judge her efforts, which for too long have been shrouded by secrecy. But if she decides to drift on, the timetable to secure Brexit next March 29 could be breached. Then we are into the unknown. This may just be a better place from which to negotiate than our current position. Naturally, the EU will have its no-deal strategy all prepared. But it will no longer be able to predict exactly how the UK will respond, for the simple reason that the status quo here will have become utterly unpredictable.

Undoubtedly, the situation is precarious. But nothing is more dangerous than the undermining of democracy itself. Whatever the coming days bring, a scenario which tells 17 million people they were stupid and wrong, and that the 2016 referendum should be overturned, would be regarded not as a political failure, but as a political hijacking.