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Our new Brexit plan B is the "rogue state" approach, as modelled by entities such as North Korea. Don't like the Irish backstop? We'll just tear up the deal and walk away. Don't like the WTO tariffs? We'll just rip up the WTO rulebook and set ours to zero for whoever we like.
That would be bad enough if we were forced to resort to such dire straits by desperate circumstance i.e. if civilisation were crumbling around our ears. But no, we've taken it to a new level: we are announcing to the entire world *in advance* that we intend to break faith.
Good luck trying to roll over trade deals, or forge new ones. Good luck trying to fix up our future relationship with the EU. If you walk into a negotiation in which every party in the room knows full well your plan is to cheat, how far do you think you'll get?
It's like going into an exam in a string vest and shorts, answers written in fat black felt marker all over your arms and legs, luminous pink earpieces in both ears, a stack of textbooks and notes under each arm. Do you think you'll be allowed to sit down and complete your paper?
