No sooner does Theresa May win her cabinet critics over to her Brexit compromise than David Davis rains on her parade. Her chief Brexit negotiator has had enough. His resignation letter suggests a long-disaffected colleague, sidelined from negotiations and fed up with being the butt of feuds. Quite what he wanted from his job that was remotely achievable remains obscure. Now he is yesterday’s man.
Brexit steams ahead. The referendum outcome is to be honoured. Basic parliamentary sovereignty over dealings with the EU will be restored. But the modalities of Britain’s trade with its European neighbours demand workable arrangements. From the start, these have meant some sort of “friction-free” customs union and ease of movement for millions across the English Channel and the Irish border. Despite foolish pledges by May that Brexit would not mean these things, it always did mean them and it will. Few Britons ever indicated that they wanted a true “breakaway” from Europe, just from the EU. Since last week, that distinction has acquired meaning.
May now has a battle on three fronts. She has her cabinet in overwhelming and explicit support, including known opponents and rivals such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. They live to fight a later day. It is hard to believe there will be any support for a leadership challenge – despite media glee at the prospect – and if there is one, May would surely win. Loyalty to the leader in a moment of crisis is now her strongest card.
The next battle is to ensure support for “soft” Brexit in parliament. May can probably rely on the minority parties for her compromise, but Labour remains mealy-mouthed. Jeremy Corbyn has finally supported a customs union, but his Brexit colleague, Keir Starmer, has declared that May’s version will not work. He should be persuaded otherwise, or at the very least drawn into the final negotiating stage. Brexit must shift from being a partisan issue to being a campaign for common sense. Unity is not all, but it helps.
The reason for this is May’s third battle: to strengthen her hand with the EU negotiators in Brussels, who have been left virtually to get on with it by the EU’s divided and distracted council of ministers. It is clear that “Norway plus or minus” is on the table, but it must be tweaked. Britain is not Norway. Much has to be argued at the margins of the customs union and single market.
The derision shown by Brexiters towards those responsible for the British economy has been not so much arrogant as illiterate. Relations between states require the give and take of regulation and arbitration. Trade is not the end of sovereignty, but it does mean accepting the need for compromise to maintain access to Britain’s biggest and closest market. Now surely is the moment when Brexit can move on and reality dawn.