THE deep dismay over the unrelenting Brexit shambles felt by businesses and individuals is entirely understandable, but the more important consideration is surely whether the developing fiasco offers room for hope.

The outcome of the political turmoil remains difficult to predict.

Theresa May is sounding ever more like a broken record, producing the same old lines about delivering the referendum result while demanding pitilessly that MPs approve her Brexit deal with the European Union. This is, of course, the Brexit deal that has been defeated spectacularly not once but twice in Parliament (so far).

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The debate in Parliament on Monday night, around the ultimately successful push by MPs to force indicative votes on alternatives to the May way, was a welcome break from the tiresome repetition from a Prime Minister who seems to have made it her mission to deliver Brexit, come hell or high water. We must bear in mind it is a hard Brexit she wants to deliver, given her scheme involves the UK coming out of the single market, thus sadly ending free movement of people between this country and EU nations, and leaving the customs union. This is something that is often lost amid the focus on whether the UK leaves with an agreement or in a catastrophic no-deal scenario.

Given the Prime Minister’s attachment to her hard-Brexit plan, we should not be surprised that Parliament’s drive to take control and vote on several softer alternatives was met by fierce resistance from Mrs May’s Government. Thankfully, this resistance was in vain.

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Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox appears to far, far prefer leaving with no deal to not exiting at all, if it were to come down to those two options.

This seems a most curious stance for a man heading up the Department for International Trade. After all, supporting UK companies in their exporting activities is surely a key role of his department. Hampering them monumentally would seem unlikely to be in the remit of his department, yet this would surely be the result of a no-deal exit.

Dr Fox declared this week: “I think that to not leave the European Union at all would be a huge betrayal of the trust that Parliament put in the voters in the referendum, and I think it would create perhaps an irrecoverable breach of trust between the voters and the political system.”

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He seemed far less bothered about a no-deal exit. He merely declared that leaving without a deal would be “difficult because Parliament has made very clear up til now that it doesn’t like the idea of leaving with no deal”. At least Parliament seems to be aware of working for the good of the electorate, not pursuing some ridiculous ideological crusade like some Brexiters appear to be doing.

Something the Brexit debate has yielded consistently is strong words from the Leave camp. Words like “betrayal” and darkly threatening language such as “treason”.

Amid the mayhem, the Prime Minister has seemed interested only in the views of the 51.9 per cent of voters who preferred to leave the EU. Another thing well worth keeping in mind is that opinion polls now signal a solid majority of the UK electorate wishing to Remain in the EU, with voters having had nearly three years to digest the realities of Brexit and its proponents rather than the Leave camp’s fantastical tales. Of course, Scotland voted Remain in 2016.

On March 8, ahead of her deal’s second defeat, the Prime Minister tweeted: “By coming together and backing the deal next week, we can deliver the change you voted for. We can stand as one united country ready to face the future together and we can make a success of it.”

The astounding “you voted for” reference says it all, in terms of where Mrs May’s attention is focused.

It was heartening to see European Council President Donald Tusk adopt the word “betrayal”, a favourite of the Brexiters, more constructively to point out the need for the EU to heed the wishes of Remainers. At least the EU leaders, in contrast to Mrs May in her tweet, are highlighting the importance of not ignoring the wishes of the Remainers.

Declaring the EU should be open to a long extension for the UK if the country wished to re-think its Brexit strategy, Mr Tusk told the European Parliament: “You cannot betray the six million people who signed the petition to revoke Article 50, the one million people who marched for a people’s vote, or the increasing majority of people who want to remain in the European Union. They may feel that they are not sufficiently represented by the UK Parliament but they must feel that they are represented by you in this chamber. Because they are Europeans.”

This patient approach (which annoyed UK Independence Party MEPs) is most welcome.

Where the UK’s Brexit fiasco will go next is difficult to predict.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker put it well this week: “If you compare Great Britain to a sphinx then the sphinx would seem to me an open book.”

However, the economic effects of the various Brexit scenarios are far easier to foresee. Any form of Brexit will be damaging. Leaving the EU but remaining in the single market, with continuing free movement, would have the smallest detrimental impact. Mrs May’s plan would have a hugely damaging effect over many years and decades, and a no-deal scenario would likely trigger a deep recession as well as bringing long-term woe.

Of course, we have already seen the impact of the Brexit vote on the UK, with economic growth having almost ground to a halt. UK consumer confidence has tumbled to its weakest since November 2013, a survey published this week by the European Commission shows.

And the Federation of Small Businesses’ latest survey shows nine out of 10 of its members are not increasing headcounts, as they are “left hamstrung by political uncertainty”. It also reveals small firms’ export expectations for the coming three months are at their lowest in the nine-year history of the quarterly survey. So much for that brave new world of international riches promised by the Brexiters.

The drama in Parliament over Brexit looks set to continue. Encouragingly, there was sizeable though not majority support in Wednesday’s indicative votes for another referendum and for Brexit options softer than the May hard-line plan. The continuation of the drama is a good thing because it keeps alive the hope that the UK might remain in the single market after Brexit, or better still stay in the EU.