Keep calm and ignore those Brexit zealots
THE next few weeks are crucial in the battle for a beneficial and sensible Brexit. This must be the aim. Our departure from the EU is not in question, and those who talk of reversing or obstructing it make a serious mistake. But its nature is still unclear.
And as Parliament prepares for a series of significant votes, MPs must now concentrate their minds on the honourable and ancient art of the possible. In short, no faction – however fervent – can get everything it wants.
The wellbeing and prosperity of Britain must be the main concern of all. Those who put their own fervour above the needs of the country must not be allowed to get their way.
Those who scornfully dismiss reasonable compromise are not being as patriotic as they claim to be.
Britain has never been a country where fanaticism has been allowed to overrule what is practical. Its people have rightly and repeatedly rejected that sort of divisive politics even at the worst of times.
The close referendum result was itself a mandate for pragmatism, not dogmatism. Of course a majority is a majority. But it is not a licence to leap into the dark, or to ignore the minority.
So what is practical? A cliff-edge total break with the EU, seriously recommended by some of the more inflamed Brexiteers, might make some purists happy to begin with. But they would later pay the price for their self-indulgence as major industries were damaged, jobs suffered and the British economy dipped.
Do such people even understand the nature of the bureaucratic barriers to cross-border trade that would be created by such a departure? Let them visit the Port of Dover and see the huge unceasing traffic which now flows smoothly through it in both directions, largely thanks to the EU single market, and then imagine what might happen if every cargo suddenly became subject to ‘third-country’ inspections and checks.
As John Neill of Unipart warned in The Mail on Sunday last week, departing from the customs union would also have a devastating effect on the supply of components needed to keep the motor industry going.
And it is still unclear just how much the City of London would lose if the barriers came down. It is hardly likely that its rivals in Paris and Frankfurt, who hunger and thirst for its global business, will miss the chance to poach its clients if no clear framework exists.
As former First Secretary of State Damian Green wisely writes in this newspaper today, EU leaders watch our debates closely and will take advantage of any division and confusion as we approach the most crucial negotiations with Brussels at the end of June.
Those who have the best interests of Britain at heart must now hold their nerve, and not be distracted or demoralised by the militant shouting from the Brexit hardliners.
Many of these hardliners know in their hearts that their case is poor, and just want to look brave in the eyes of more militant voters.
That is their problem. Everyone else should back Prime Minister Theresa May as she stands firm for Britain and its people, and reject the idealist fantasy of total independence at any cost.