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Principles on Brexit. And a challenge to all other candidates:
1. Will you take No-deal of the table? Completely. It won’t get through the commons. It is a recipe for furtheir delay and uncertainty.
1. Will you take No-deal of the table? Completely. It won’t get through the commons. It is a recipe for furtheir delay and uncertainty.
It will undermine 300 years of reputation for economic competence. And in particular the conservative party’s reputation for economic competence. And it is, therefore not a credible threat.
2. Will you stop pretending that you are going to be able to negotiate some alternative deal with Europe? Completely. There is literally no evidence at all that Europe will give us a different deal.
3. And if you are still in favour of a deal can you confirm that you are in favour of the Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration? (Clue: The Withdrawal agreement contains the backstop.)
4. Stop ignoring the Irish border and all that it means for Northern Ireland. And tell me how what you propose is going to work on the Irish border. (And while you’re at it stop ignoring the Scots and the Welsh in all this).
5. Stop pretending you are going to get alternative arrangements agreed by Brussels “over the next few months”. Stop. You won’t. Admit it.
6. Stop pretending that there is some alternative to getting a majority vote in parliament.
7. Admit that calling something a plan doesn’t make it a plan.
Spoiler - my plan - which is literally the only workable plan - the only way of getting through this - is to stop pretending that there is some different deal out there - and instead to focus on getting this deal through parliament. The key is to unlock parliament. More to follow
