The Game is Up

To borrow a sentiment from last night, determination is no substitute for policy.  The Prime Minister finds herself clinging to her authority but without a hope of selling her “deal” to Parliament.  Her loyal spokesmen tell us that once she has secured reassurance on the Northern Island backstop then the deal will become acceptable both to the majority of her party and the hard-headed DUP who currently keep her in power. This aspiration in spite of clear statements from the EU that the deal will not be reopened.  Her policy is doomed to fail.

Worryingly, the question those in favour of the deal, Remain Minus, refuse to answer is, “what’s in it for us?”  John Major says now is the time to be holding on to what we’ve got and not risk our future prosperity by breaking free from the EU.  He is wrong because remaining in the EU, despite what my old friend Kamal Ahmed says on the BBC, is to tie ourselves to an economically sinking ship – just look at the latest growth figures (despite Brexit) if you don’t believe me.  And why should we want to remain in an organisation where unemployment is such a curse – 10% in France and much higher in Italy, Spain, and Greece.  Unemployment, despite Brexit is just over 4% in UK and more people are in work than ever before.  To say nothing of the scandalous youth unemployment figures where nearly half young southern Europeans have no prospect of employment.  No wonder, despite Brexit, that they continue to migrate to UK.  And talking of migration?

Yet Mrs May will plough on regardless because she has nowhere else to go.  She cannot move to a Norway style deal because she has declared herself, implacably, against free movement.  Similarly, she is ideologically opposed to a second referendum.  She has nowhere to go in Parliament where Hammond and Rudd lie in wait with their pro-European agenda. 

If the Prime Minister really wants to stand up for this country she should use the opportunity of her forthcoming meeting to tell her European co-conspirators that “our game is up.”  Despite deliberately boxing herself into the corner from which walking away is a costly option, that is exactly what she intends to do unless they ditch the backstop and begin legally binding negotiation now on a post exit trade deal.  To show her determination she should withhold any previously agreed payments – reminding our European friends that nothing is agreed until it is all agreed.  She should tell the EU that she needs a vision greater than “Remain Minus” – why should the UK people demand less?