With Brexiteers pulling the strings again, hope of getting any deal through Parliament is fading, says Paris Gourtsoyannis

Conservative MPS have rediscovered the Brexit spirit that saw a majority of them campaign against David Cameron in the 2016 referendum. Acting together, they have the numbers to dictate policy on Brexit.

The government will cling to its White Paper because it has no other choice now that it’s published and there are less than six months until an exit agreement with the EU has to be agreed – but it is a lifeless document. May cannot hope to get a Brexit deal based on it through parliament, even if she can get it past Brussels.

In response, both the Prime Minister and Nicola Sturgeon have tried to be optimistic. May sought to enforce a measure of discipline by warning Tory MPS it’s either her Brexit or no Brexit.

Meanwhile, the First Minister has suggested the White Paper presents an opening to push the government even further, towards full membership of the single market and customs union. For different reasons, both are hiding the alarming reality: that the UK is closer to a no-deal scenario than ever before. That is the guaranteed outcome if parliament can’t accept any form of Brexit as expressed in a withdrawal treaty.

Even if, at the last minute, the EU dictates terms and sets out a take-it-or-leave-it soft Brexit offer, would MPS be able to pass it? If the decision was outsourced to the public in a new referendum, would they back it?

The risk of no-deal bears repeating because it’s clear that the public aren’t prepared: one poll in the past few days found that 51 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal”, with just 20 per cent opposed.

Only a lack of understanding of the consequences could produce that result, but when MPS have themselves failed to understand that the UK probably had the best deal as a member of the EU, and could only ever negotiate how much Brexit would be mitigated, then how can the public be expected to understand?

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