The country urgently needs a new leader

Yesterday was supposed to be Brexit day. Instead, the Government spent it trying to heave its Withdrawal Agreement over the line, with the threat that it could be this or no Brexit at all. They did their best; a few Tory sceptics were converted. Nevertheless, the deal died in the lobbies for a third time. Theresa May had told the 1922 Committee that she would resign if the Agreement passed. What will she do now that it has been beaten yet again? She cannot continue. The Prime Minister needs to consider her position urgently, bearing two things in mind: the longer this goes on, the softer Brexit will become and, second, that the public is losing faith not just in the Government or the Conservative Party, but in democracy itself.

No 10 is reportedly considering a fourth vote next week. If the plan is to offer even more concessions to Labour in a nod towards a customs union, that would be a disaster: the Government would lose the votes of any pro-leave MP who believes a customs union would be worse than staying in the EU, which is correct. Britain would end up obeying Europe’s rules without a say in writing them. Why would anyone sign up to this? Ignorance? To produce a Brexit so bad that there is a popular demand to overturn it? All of the above plus the poison of Project Fear that the Tories have done nothing to cure.

Throughout this saga, the Remainers – and the Government – have talked up the economic risks of Brexit, but delaying and softening our Eu-exit has had side effects of its own. The longer we’ve waited to go, the deeper the economic uncertainty; the softer Brexit looks, the greater the political damage. If the UK ends up participating in the Euro elections – which is a bad joke in itself – we can expect radical Remain and Leave parties to flourish. The Tories and Labour are testing the patience of the voters.

Mrs May comes from a generation of politicians that sees politics as a cautious game of triangulation: whatever lies midway between two extremes is the best path to take. The problem is that Brexit isn’t something that can be fudged like the NHS or education. It requires a binary choice between being in or out. Compromise is possible – such as stating from the off that the rights of European citizens will be respected – but for Brexit to work, for its potential to be realised, there had to be a clear and emotional commitment to getting Britain out of the EU, as quickly and decisively as possible.

Failure to commit the Conservatives to being a full-throttled Leave party explains the failure in negotiations, in parliamentary leadership and, now, in knowing what to do next. Mrs May has ruled out a no-deal Brexit because Parliament is against it: why? There are hints that a general election is around the corner, in which case what will the Tory manifesto say? Will that, too, rule out no deal? Will MPS who are completely opposed to the Agreement be forced to stand on it? Will MPS who are totally opposed to Brexit keep the whip? The answers to all of these questions rest with No10, and answers are not forthcoming because, as always, the Prime Minister retreats into silence and the counsel of civil servants.

If the last few weeks have seemed confused then blame lies, yes, with MPS who have voted against rather than for anything, but also with an executive that has failed to lead. Mrs May’s Agreement was arguably kaput the first time she put it forward and withdrew it back in December. That nearly four months later Parliament is still weighing up its pros and cons is an absolute disgrace.

The Prime Minister is famous for saying that “nothing has changed” and this can contain a germ of logic: if circumstances are unaltered, then why not push ahead with Plan A until it succeeds? But now everything has changed. The deal has been tried and failed. The EU is dictating the timetable. The public has witnessed the spectacle of Parliament openly admitting that it doesn’t know what it wants and, by implication, that Brexit is beyond its competence (if it’s not for anything, it has no right to rule anything out either). And the Prime Minister has uttered words in the past few days that bring her colleagues to the inexorable conclusion that her premiership is almost over. The leadership contest has already begun. The prospect of Mrs May forging a customs union alliance with Remainer MPS, or triggering an election and leading the Tories to a triple-figure majority, is surreal.

The Prime Minister is always motivated by public service. She must now see – or must be told – that while she can meet with the EU to negotiate an extension for Brexit, that is the natural end of the road. She must then bow out, for the sake of Brexit, for her party and for democracy itself. The system cannot take this much consistent failure without a reckoning at the top. It is now in the national interest for Britain to have fresh leadership.

If the UK takes part in the Euro elections, we can expect radical Remain and Leave parties to flourish

The public has witnessed the spectacle of Parliament openly admitting that it doesn’t know what it wants