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I can accept that this is difficult, and also at odds with the Brexit spirit, but there comes a time when one has to admit defeat, to embrace failure, and seek to make the best of it. 1/
I do not have the energy to go through the various steps - they are well known to all - but one way or another, we are now where we are. The A50 deadline is looming, the WA is in tatters, and there are no alternatives which command strong support. 2/
People are investing all sorts of hopes in a Norway plus deal; in getting the EU to see sense in relation to the backstop; in an extension; in a general election; in a managed no deal; in a people's vote. There are unlikely alternatives to the WA on all sides. 3/
A solution may emerge from this Parliament, but I doubt it. MPs are posturing. The public is bored by all this. The clock continues to tick. And we still do not know what we want our future relationship with the EU to look like. Norway and Canada are still in play. 4/
So... what do we do? We try to find a solution; which will, at this stage, be cobbled together only by an unstable coalition of MPs. But, we should also prepare for the likely failure of these increasingly frantic talks. 5/
We can, as a first step, reverse the default - make it clear that if there is no agreement by X date, we will revoke the A50 notice. And if, as I think likely, there is no new deal which emerges, we have to accept that our Brexit adventure has failed. 6/
Were we to revoke, there is no bar to the UK deciding to retrigger A50; next time (please) only with a concrete mandate. At a post-revocation GE, the various parties and factions can make their pitch. We can begin to address the Brexit question properly. 7/
Some are sceptical that this will be done well. I am too. But surely it is more likely that a good, durable solution can be found post revocation, than it is for a good, durable solution to emerge out of nowhere at this late stage. 8/8
