AS time increasingly runs out on an agreed Brexit deal, Downing Street has informed the media that only a "small number of outstanding issues remain to be settled", perhaps one of the great under statements of our time.
It appears, even from the standpoint of the most optimistic observer, that the chances of a chaotic no-deal departure from the EU continue to increase by the hour, an alarming prospect for everyone in this country, particularly since there appears to be an unprecedented political leadership vacuum in the country at large.
The Cabinet is hopelessly divided, though the one thing that they all seem to agree on is that whatever form Brexit will now take, the outcome will be much worse for Britain than the original status quo.
Mrs May literally has "cannon to the left of her and cannon to the right of her" amongst her own supporters. Beset by malevolent Brexiters and the DUP on one side and, following Jo Johnson's resignation ("New blow for May as sixth minister resigns over Brexit", The Herald, November 10), by increasingly frustrated Remainers on the other side, the Prime Minister's chances of winning a parliamentary vote on a current deal look negligible at best.
Her parliamentary opposition offers no reasonable respite for her or for the country as Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit stance remains perplexing and ambiguous; a genuine dilemma for his party colleagues and supporters. In short, the Labour Party remains in turmoil over the greatest British political crisis since the Second World War, shorn of any decisive guidance or authority.
In 2016, the Brexiters won the referendum by peddling the illusion that the UK could leave the EU while continuing to enjoy its benefits. Today's reality is that whatever deal Mrs May and her team can now fashion will leave us all considerably worse off than we were and affect generations of Britons to come detrimentally.
John Maynard Keynes famously said: "When the facts change, I change my mind.”
Even allowing for the Trumpesque nature of the Brexit campaign where it is clear that many "facts" were never facts at all, it should not take a great flight of imagination to take the path of a second referendum for the UK. A second referendum would not affront democracy, it would fortify and reinvigorate it.
Owen Kelly,
8 Dunvegan Drive, Stirling.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here