Jason MoorePalma26/09/2017 00:00
TW
4

Is Brexit dead and buried? Is this the end of Britain’s divorce from the European Union? The party of Brexit, the Conservatives, now want to put the divorce on hold for two years and Labour, the party of sitting on the fence over Europe, now wants to keep Britain in the Customs Union and Single Market. So, in other words there is little point in leaving.

I still believe that former prime minister Tony Blair is one of the most formidable politicians of his generation. He suggested that Britain should stay in the European Union but with greater powers to control immigration. Sounds like the most sensible thing that I have heard from a politician over Brexit in many months. The Conservatives are yet again split over Europe with open warfare amongst senior politicians who should be plotting Britain’s post-Brexit course and not plotting amongst themselves.

So is Brexit dead....? I would say so. It is dead in the form that it was originally envisaged: that Britain would leave, firmly slamming the door shut on the European Union. I suspect that we are going to see a soft Brexit, Britain will remain a member in all but name. So has democracy been served? No, not at all. The wishes of 18 million people have been carefully forgotten by politicians who probably realised that leaving the European Union would take decades. The whole process could have been avoided if only Britain had been encouraged to have a proper grown-up debate over its relationship with Europe.