May’s change of mind?

EVEN at this late stage of the game, Theresa May could achieve something for this country which would mean that her premiership had produced something positive.

She just needs to say ‘No’ to the EU bloc. We will not accept this Irish backstop being inflicted on us under any circumstances.

There have been countless times when the EU negotiators have said no to suggestions that we have made. So this will be just giving them some of their own medicine.

That would display some tenacity of purpose on Theresa May’s part to show that she will fight for a true Brexit being achieved – as desired by the 17.4 million people who voted in the 2016 referendum.

She doesn’t then need to get into any heated exchanges with the leaders or negotiators of the EU. She just needs to show the resolution that she means what she says, and to take it from there.

Nobody knows what the future has in store for us despite all the many dour predictions of a No Deal Brexit. I think it is unlikely that it will result in a doomsday scenario as the Project Fear brigade are predicting.

And another bonus of the No Deal Brexit would be that we do not have to pay the hated £39billion divorce settlement.

The reason why I have used the word hated in my last sentence is because I don’t feel any love for the EU bloc at the moment, based on their total attitude towards us while we have been a member of the EU.

And also, in particular, at the venomous way that they have acted since we announced our democratic decision to leave their club. ONLY time will tell whether Mrs May’s efforts to save her deal, both at home and with the EU, will give sufficient breathing space for better counsels to prevail.

During the last two-and-a-half years of negotiations Mrs May has repeatedly said that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal.’

Clearly, she has had a change of mind, hence her desperate efforts to promote ‘her’ deal with the people here and her last-ditch meetings with EU leaders to try and squeeze extra concessions in order to make the deal more palatable at home.

The deal comprises a mish-mash of proposals which please no one, while the so-called ‘backstop,’ so urgently necessary in order to protect the hard-won peace accord in Ireland, is a flimsy structure which can only be kept in place by retaining a very close relationship with the EU.

This is anathema to the hard-line Brexiteers, including the DUP on whose support Mrs May has been banking in order to retain her position as prime minister.

Whether or not Mrs May’s failure to put her deal before Parliament on December 11 was an act of weakness or a stroke of political cunning is really beside the point: Parliament has been given breathing space, a time for reflection and consideration of all the issues.

It should be quite obvious that no deal achieved by Mrs May, or anyone else for that matter, will be as good as the one we are already enjoying as a full member of the EU.

Mrs May has looked into the abyss and hasn’t liked what she has seen and has changed her mind.

In day-to-day life we change our minds according to circumstances, this is not weakness but wisdom.

We know a great deal more now than we did at the time of the referendum. Now is the time for a serious re-think, no deal would be madness on a grand scale. Now is the time to put an end to dithering and uncertainty, now is the time to withdraw Article 50 and regain our standing and prosperity as one of the leading nations of Europe.

Water was coming through the kitchen ceiling from the bathroom above, water leaking from the bath seeped through. These gentlemen dismantled the bath, mopped up and looked after me. I was 90 this month. My two sets of neighbours, I thank you. My hearing aid had broken and I must have sounded demented, but thanks to them I am nearly back to normal.