Thread by @Usherwood

It's obviously joy of soundbites day today: this is not a viable approach for several reasons

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Firstly, #A50 is not structured like most negotiations. Key mechanism is 2yr time-limit

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Thus, default position is a no-deal exit. Any deal requires active moves by both EU and UK

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As such, there's no viable Parliamentary capacity to force HMG to negotiate and to reach deal by a fixed time-point

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(in theory, you cld do this, but it's politically inconceivable, and negotiationally stupid, since puts all power in EU's hands)

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At best, Parliamentary rebellion cld stop/limit funding of no-deal preparation funding, but that doesn't stop no-deal in of itself

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it wld simply mean UK was even less prepared for no-deal, shld it happen. Maybe that makes no-deal look less appealing, but marginal

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General impression is that Labour continues to tack around CON's situation, rather than making active plans to shape #a50

/end