In the End, the Brexit Choice Is Stay or Go
There’s no point in seeking compromise when no good compromise is possible.
No middle way.
Photographer: Jake McPherson/Getty Images
The root of the Brexit crisis is not, as you might think, the failure of the hard-Brexit Tories to compromise. Rather, it’s that no good compromise exists. For three years Britain’s politicians have refused to face this, arguing endlessly and pointlessly about how to split the difference between Remain and Leave, imagining they can find a palatable soft Brexit. The underlying problem is that there’s simply no such thing.
In the end, with or without a further extension of the Brexit deadline, MPs might end up splitting the difference after all. It’s still possible they’ll vote for Prime Minister Theresa May’s muddled and three-times-rejected withdrawal agreement (involving a financial settlement, transitional arrangements, and steps to avoid reintroducing a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). On Tuesday, the prime minister said she’d seek the Labour Party’s help in adjusting the nonbinding political declaration that goes with the deal, in an effort to get Parliament’s backing.