Choose May’s Brexit... or a leap into the abyss

FOR those who, like the Mail, find much to admire in our Prime Minister, this was yet another occasion to be thankful she is at the helm. After the long, gruelling months of negotiations, she has signed a deal with the EU – something many said would be impossible to achieve.

Indeed, though few of her colleagues will acknowledge it, Theresa May has shown great fortitude under pressure, and deserves huge credit for her endeavours.

Yet for all her successes, the brutal truth is that the task before her in the coming fortnight, to convince Parliament to back her, is even more Herculean than the one she has completed.

Speaking after the EU Council meeting, Mrs May made a compelling case for a deal which – for all its imperfections – honours the result of the referendum and delivers much that the Leave campaign should support, not least an end to free movement and vast annual membership payments to Brussels.

Critically, it provides for an orderly and smooth exit to restore desperately needed business confidence. This is a hard-won agreement, and voting for it is overwhelmingly in Britain’s interest.

As for the alternatives, they are either implausible or deeply unpalatable.

It is risible to claim the talks can be reopened, with only four months to go until Brexit day, as some claim, when the EU insists the documents are set in stone.

Could Jeremy Corbyn get a better result? Few of his own MPs would even argue that. Or Boris Johnson, who has appeared preoccupied with making lucrative speeches rather than confronting the realities of Brexit since he left government?

Those die-hard Europhiles who call for a second referendum should admit that they are simply refusing to accept the result of 2016. Brexit must happen, to respect the clear will of the people.

As for the hardline Brexiteers, they should consider the dire consequences of a chaotic and economically destructive ‘no deal’ for both their country and party.

If they do not embrace pragmatism, they risk the catastrophe of a Marxist government – or no Brexit at all.

The Mail would urge MPs on all sides to contemplate the havoc they could unleash if the deal does not pass a Commons vote.

They should also listen to voters, who on the whole accept the need for compromise and just want the deal done.