Britain can’t afford to get Brexit wrong

FOR the millions now enjoying their summer holidays, the dramatic devaluation of sterling has suddenly become a real, hard concern. At some airports, the pound is worth less than the euro, which to most of us feels like a reversal of the natural order of things.

Of course, airport exchange counters are notorious for their poor deals. But the astonishing rate of 88 euro cents to £1 is possible only because our national currency has fallen to extraordinarily low levels since Brexit. Plenty of continental holidays this year will be spoiled by higher costs and unexpectedly large bills.

Independence, as we now see, comes at a price. Many who voted to leave certainly accepted this possibility. But many others did not, and the Leave campaign – with its promises of billions for the NHS – gave the strong impression that a breach with the EU would not merely be cost-free, but would make us richer.

Where is that campaign now, as the evidence piles up that our new freedom will be pricey and problematic? It dissolved at the moment of its victory. It is scattered to the four winds. There is nobody to whom voters can go, and complain: ‘You misled us. What are you going to do about it?’

But it is interesting to see that some of the Leave movement’s prominent figures, now in the Cabinet, are admitting – in practice, if not in so many words – that they were wrong. The dogmatic ferocity of those who demanded a Hard Brexit has faded. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, a cool-headed professional among hot-heads and amateurs, is beginning to impose realism on the Cabinet. Britain will still leave the EU, but the British people should not be forced to pay a needlessly high price for this, just because a few zealots want it.

Even Michael Gove, who amazed many by his sudden conversion to Brexitism a year ago, seems to have signed up to the idea of a ‘transition plan’, which adds up to the cautious postponement of a final breach with Brussels.

Everywhere there is talk of a ‘Pragmatic Brexit’, which means a deal with very fuzzy edges. A wise and typically British compromise, in which the desires of all are considered, but neither side gets everything it wants, may now be taking shape.

Let us hope so. We literally cannot afford to make a mess of this.