Green shoots give PM optimism over Brexit
INTO March, the first days of spring, and the month that Britain is due to change 46 years of history. In under four weeks, we are due to leave the EU.
From 11pm on the 29th, we begin regaining control of our borders, money and laws, free from the interfering hand of Brussels. And can we finally detect green shoots of optimism emerging from the once-barren ground around Theresa May’s Brexit deal?
Of course, to take this momentous step, the Prime Minister must get her withdrawal agreement through Parliament.
This will be no mean feat. Tory Brexiteers and Remainers are still at daggers drawn.
Eurosceptics are furious that Europhile rebels have fatally weakened Mrs May’s negotiating hand with the EU by forcing her to take No Deal off the table.
But it appears to have compelled European Research Group ultras to see sense. With the klaxon of no Brexit at all ringing in their ears, Jacob Rees-Mogg and co have become admirably more co-operative.
With luck, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will eke legally-binding concessions from Brussels on the Irish backstop.
Another glimmer of hope is that Europe is increasingly anxious for a deal. Eurozone manufacturing has slumped, the decline led by Germany – its economic engine.
Would the EU really sacrifice the jobs and homes of millions for purist dogma?
If the bloc’s intransigent ideologues budge, a pact could be signed, sealed and delivered quickly – to widespread relief.
Mrs May, who has tirelessly thrashed out an agreement honouring the referendum and ensuring an orderly departure, could finally see light at the tunnel’s end. But for all the chaos blighting the Tories, it pales into insignificance compared to Labour.
Despite a ceaseless hatred of the EU, Jeremy Corbyn has been forced to support a second referendum to prevent a mass walkout of his MPs. But that has angered his troops in Leave-supporting seats, who are in open revolt.
Add in frontbencher Barry Gardiner declaring a second vote would ‘undermine democracy’ – plus the anti-Semitism row – and the party is a hopeless shambles.
If the stars align for Mrs May, and she can break the Westminster impasse which has disheartened people and businesses, she will win garlands from a grateful nation.