In politics, as in life, not looking before you leap is bad advice. Parliament may wish it could take it in the task it has currently embarked upon: to review, and eventually accept or reject, the Brexit withdrawal agreement. But the future is necessarily obscure whichever course it chooses.
Yet the stakes could not be higher. The United Kingdom may or may not decide to terminate a 45-year-old relationship with its nearest and closest neighbours and replace it with a new and looser one; may or may not decide to cast itself off into the deep seeking – or pleading for – new friends and partners to replace those recently lost; or may choose a path of even greater uncertainty than that now existing. In short, those choices are to accept the deal negotiated with the European Union by Theresa May’s government; to leave the EU with no subsequent arrangement in place; or to refer the whole matter back to the electorate by means of a further referendum.
05 December 2018, The Tablet
Brexit: how did British politics get this low?
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login