Brussels should be careful what it wishes for - resistance from Britain will be hell if it keeps us in
There is, at five minutes to midnight, a glimmering of hope. The European Union might possibly, just maybe, conceivably be about to relent over the Irish backstop, which is the insuperable obstacle to reaching any sort of remotely acceptable agreement.
Judging by the confused and contradictory messages emerging from the previously implacable Fortress Brussels, you might almost think that they had given up on their blood pact with our own Remain fifth column. Perhaps they have concluded that Project Kill-the-whole-thing-off – frustrating any attempt to reach a plausible agreement so that in the end, with a whimper of exhaustion, we just give up the silly idea of leaving – might be a dead duck.
Take, for example, some of the the recent, blessed indications that the rational people who actually run EU operations regard a No Deal outcome as something other than an apocalyptic end-of-days. Xavier Bertrand, who administers the crucial French ports across the Channel, said as much in pretty categorical terms last week: we are confidently ready for that eventuality on our side so if you guys in the UK can get yourselves together, where’s the problem?
There are even hints of splits higher up, with the political leaders of some member states apparently suggesting that – contrary to those bloodcurdling threats from the EU Commission – in the event of No Deal, UK hauliers and airlines should continue to have the same rights to operate within the EU as they do now for the indefinite future. Fancy that. At last, everybody – or quite a few people anyway – is starting to talk sense. Could there be something more to this than just making the best of a very bad situation?
Remainers would almost certainly argue that this is nothing more than damage limitation. The French ports are anxious to assure us that they will be able to compete with rival facilities on the European coastline and the Spanish do not want their hugely lucrative British tourist trade to collapse due to restrictions on cheap air travel. So they are taking the necessary practical steps and urging their negotiators not to drive so hard a bargain that it damages their interests irreparably. But given a choice, surely all the various parties would really be much happier if we could be persuaded, with however much coercion is necessary, to stay in?
Well, I wonder. Is it possible that the more comprehending brains in the EU outfit might have come to another quite startling conclusion?
Maybe they have got over their initial shock at the visceral and unrelenting determination of the British to persevere with their resolve to leave, even in the face of the most deafening orchestrated campaign to terrorise them into submission, the sheer, absurd crassness of which has taken so many of us by surprise. (Leo Varadkar wins this week’s prize for gross irresponsibility with his assertion that No Deal could mean an “army presence” at the Irish border, a hysterical claim which, given Ulster’s tragic history, truly beggars belief.)
So could it be that, having looked at this phenomenon and contemplated its consequences, those sensible EU officials and heads of state might be thinking: is this plan of threatening and blackmailing and conniving with a black ops, back channel political campaign to keep the British locked into a system they now hate more than ever, really such a great idea? Never mind the possible damage that could be done by the UK coming out of the club. What kind of hell could they create for us if we succeed in making them stay in it?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...n-will-hellif/