May’s Brexit Deal Has a Fatal Defect
The agreement makes Britain a perpetual subordinate.
A deal that deserves to go the way of the dinosaurs.
Photographer: Amer Ghazzal/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Last week Theresa May unveiled her draft agreement with the European Union on the terms of Britain’s exit. The reaction was exactly as expected. Remainers despaired because the deal is so much worse than staying in the union — which is true, of course. Leavers despaired because the deal is Brexit in name only — which is also true. But that was bound to happen, right? Whatever variant of the earlier much-derided Chequers plan May had brought the EU to accept, the response from both sides would have been exactly the same.
Yes it would — yet this kneejerk reaction obscures a vital point. This deal, despite its resemblance to the Chequers plan, fundamentally subverts that earlier approach. This is no longer a flawed but defensible compromise. It’s a capitulation.