Long Extension to Nowhere

The parliamentary majority of Honourable Members who have, all along, sought to reverse the result of the referendum, seem to have victory within their grasp. With a last shred of negotiating leverage about to be declared illegal, May will protest that she only seeks a short, technical, extension but her hand has been forced by parliament and she must now stay in for as long as it takes for the same parliament to agree on something.  Meantime, it is certain that our friends in Brussels will insist that we behave; participating in forthcoming elections, abdicating any right to influence budget negotiation, promising not to vote against anything they want and, of course, paying up. When challenged that such conditions will be a national humiliation May will smugly proclaim that she has secured an opt out: as soon as the deal is agreed the open ended extension will be ended and UK may leave forthwith. Far from comforting the majority of people who voted to leave, however,  the transparent fig leaf will be ignored by parliament who may continue talking and respectively voting each other down, confident in knowledge that reaching the agreement that could trigger the opt out and actually facilitate leaving, will never happen.