The longer we go without a Brexit deal the speculation will cause those outside with concerns to amplify them. On all sides. Does this mean you need negotiations secret? Only to a degree, more importantly you need your support well established before the last stages.
You can talk for years and miss multiple deadlines but you hear negotiators talking about the point 'the stars align', where one or both sides are prepared to go further than ever before, maybe for some external reason. You need to be ready for that point.
We don't know from outside the Brexit rooms, but it could be that neither side is quite yet ready for the final compromise, for the EU that the answer isn't the Northern Ireland only backstop and therefore complexity, for the UK on NI treated differently, guarantees...
Not reaching a deal now doesn't mean therefore no deal ever. Veteran EU watchers know their deals typically take at least 5 years to agree, though the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement is relatively simpler than an FTA. On the UK side our debate remains immature.
Whatever happens in the next 24 hours of Brexit there will be excitable commentary - success! failure! triumph! disaster!
And then negotiations - inside the UK, inside the EU, between us - will continue.
Time to get used to that.
And then negotiations - inside the UK, inside the EU, between us - will continue.
Time to get used to that.
