The Shadow Brexit Secretary claims that there is now widespread concern about the Government’s ability to bring home any sort of deal at all.
We are being nudged towards Norway Minus rather than Canada Plus Plus Plus almost without anyone noticing.
Not being able to blame Brussels for our problems nor look to the EU for solutions will be immensely reinvigorating.
“I’m not saying that there would be an organised push, but the letters would just go in to Graham Brady,” one senior pro-Leave backbencher told this site yesterday.
Large companies should be required to offer paternity leave on the same basis as maternity leave. Families should have the choice of who should stay home.
Whatever you think of the latter idea, it can’t fairly be said that, in the minds of a significant tranche of Party members, the door to it is firmly closed.
To shut off consideration of realistic and achievable ways of supporting the Government’s Brexit objectives would be irresponsible.
We don’t need a European solution; we need a global solution. We must think independent Anglosphere, not dependent Eurosphere.
Johnson’s speech today and the Commission’s basic take are strangely similar – Brexit points to a Canada-type settlement on alignment and divergence.
It’s often suggested that the Remain wing of the Cabinet wouldn’t wear such a choice. I doubt it.
Even Whitehall’s fiercest advocates of the need to stay as close as possible to the EU recognise that there are risks in being a rule-taker not a rule-maker.
Within EFTA, there are already two models of relationship with the EU – the EEA and the Swiss model. There is no reason why there could not be a third.