The truth that Rishi Sunak dare not speak: Britain still needs the EU

Nearly three years into Britain’s European divorce, the Conservative party is not ready to take custody of the consequences. But the prime minister wants visiting rights.

The phase of slamming doors and empty threats shouted through Brussels

letterboxes is over. Rishi Sunak understands that his only hope of political survival lies with economic recovery, to which end he needs a functional relationship with the EU. But compromise in Brussels poisons the mood of Conservative MPs, making political survival harder.

It is an impossible conundrum because the facts about Britain’s dependency on the single market offend the sacred core of Brexit. That is why Eurosceptic hardliners reacted with fury