What the commentators said

Diehard Brexiteers are “frothing” at the very idea of a transition period, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. With some justice, they fear it could be used by Remainers to delay our departure from the EU indefinitely. But what the plan really represents is belated acknowledgement of the “perilous complexities” ahead. In the words of Brexit Secretary David Davis, the task “makes the Nasa moonshot look quite simple”. The belief that we could fix everything from airline flight paths to the safety of medicines by 2019 was always “for the birds”. A transition period is all very well, said Simon Nixon in The Times, but transition to what? Ministers are no closer to resolving the central “dilemma”: do we want to be “rulemakers” or “rule-takers”? The former would entail cutting all ties with our largest trading partner and so risk economic disaster. Seeking the closest possible relationship with Europe, on the other hand, would inevitably mean accepting the diktats of Brussels and the ECJ.

Cheer up, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. However messy the negotiations may appear, there are still promising signs. Countries from Brazil to Turkey to the US are lining up to negotiate free trade deals with us; a newly competitive pound has contributed to a 16% rise in exports; tourist spending is up 14%. Nor should we beat ourselves up about having held the referendum in the first place. Given the “federalist path” the EU is heading down, we’d have left sooner or later anyhow. And whatever some may fondly wish, our fate is now settled, said Wolfgang Münchau in the FT. Any attempt to reverse Brexit would need the approval of all the EU states, who would more than likely take it as an opportunity to reset our membership terms, depriving us of our opt-outs and budget rebate. And Germany and France could well nix it, as an EU without Britain offers them the chance to create a financial centre to rival London inside the eurozone. “If you think Brexit is messy, an exit from Brexit would be no different.”