Will nothing stop this mad dash to no-deal?

FEARS are growing that there really could be no alternative to the current seemingly inexorable kicking the can of Brexit down the dark alley of no-deal. Industry and business, corporately and individually, alarm us by telling us of their alarm at even continuing to exist in No-Deal Land.

Rivals like Sainsbury and Tesco, whose livelihoods – and the livelihoods of their many, many employees – depend on serving both Leavers and Remainers, and who want to keep both sides happy, combine to warn of the terrors awaiting us beyond no-deal.

And the main preparation the Government seems to have made for no-deal, apart from the odd stockpiling of medicines, has been to deploy something like 3,500 troops at the ready to quell civil disobedience. All the time I hear “Nobody told us …” and “But we didn’t know …” on one side. On the other, despite a referendum based on falsehoods and fraud that should have been declared illegal, “We can’t ignore 17 million people …” And I think: “But we can ignore 16 million… ?” Oh yes, of course, that’s why the troops are standing by.

As Theresa May comes back to Parliament with further philandering of our future and, to the amazement of Europeans both within and without the UK, we blunder on to the worst-case scenario, we seem doomed. But no, there really is an alternative.

The whole matter is well beyond party politics. Both Conservatives and Labour are irretrievably split on it, though there is probably a Parliamentary majority on both sides for Remain. Maybe it’s not too late for Theresa May to bring together Remainers on both sides in a far softer Brexit deal that could find a majority. But there is little sign of that. So Members of Parliament need to take a hand, not in the interests of party but in the interests of the country itself. For there really is an alternative to the current crisis.

It’s an alternative that might seem mad. But in the madhouse of Brexit, it could be the only thing at this late – and getting later – stage. It is the alternative of Revoke. Yes, it is extreme. But something, something must stop this Brexit madness of hurtling to a no-deal. Revoke would give everyone time to think again. It would not rule out leaving the EU on suitable terms, it would not rule out another referendum now people are better informed. It would not rule out putting the terms of any specific deal to the people. It might sound mad, yes. But how mad does

3,500 troops on standby sound in a country renowned for its peaceful government?

Jean Silvan Evans Peterston-super-Ely