May's dangerous game (II)

Theresa May will meet Jeremy Corbyn later to see whether there is common ground to break the Brexit deadlock. Mr Corbyn said he was "very happy" to meet Mrs May and recognised his own "responsibility" to try to break the deadlock. Mrs May said she wanted to agree a new plan with Mr Corbyn and put it to a vote in the Commons before 10 April - when the EU will hold an emergency summit on Brexit. She insisted her withdrawal agreement - which was voted down last week - would remain part of the deal. If there is no agreement, Mrs May said a number of options would be put to MPs "to determine which course to pursue".

The face-value interpretation is that both sides have belated realised they actually do need to make a choice and try to come to an acceptable compromise. The cynical version is that May is trying to shift the blame to the opposition; one last chance, perhaps, to force them to accept her deal warts-and-all. Or she might be hoping that the next Conservative leader will ignore anything agreed here, as the SNP have suggested.

It's impossible to know Theresa May's true intentions, but the sound and fury of the Brexiteers at this development may well be signifying something. Would they all remain silent if they thought she was trying a clever political maneuver ? None of them have shown any political skill more sophisticated than that of an enraged and horny gorilla, so I very much doubt it. Booking odds have shifted sharply away from no deal. In addition, Barclay's accurate declaration of the "remorseless logic" of the numbers game means that any compromise is going to displease MPs, but the smallest section of her party that she can alienate are the hard Brexiteers.

It's more probable that May has, at last, realised that the will of the House is towards a softer Brexit. That doesn't mean she won't try and get her own deal enacted, at least the withdrawal agreement if not the long-term political declaration. And it doesn't mean the talks will be successful either. Corbyn could well be playing his own political game in order to appear as the saviour of Brexit whilst trying to appease Remainers, or, more cynically, to show that he negotiated "in good faith" but in reality trying to show how May was stubborn and refused to yield. Or the talks may simply fail due to good old-fashioned incompetence, which is in superabundance these days. It could certainly all just collapse into a disastrous burning heap.

Given these uncertainties there seems no point speculating as to what kind of Brexit we might actually get, or if we'll end up with a general election and/or second referendum - the possibility of either has scarcely diminished. But, since we're already in injury time, a choice must be made. MPs almost succeeded in this but were, as Nick Boales said, unable to compromise. Another day of talks might - and might still yet ! - have resolved the deadlock. So it seems only fair to ask what choices I would be willing to make.

I would suggest that things be phrased in a slightly more hypothetical way than they have so far. As a Remainer, the question I see is, "If, given that some form of Brexit must be enacted, what form would be most acceptable to you ?". To which the answer I would give is, "the softest one possible, that preserves as many of the economic advantages as possible while sacrificing no more of the political alignment with the EU than is necessary". Common Market 2.0 looked like the best option in that sense. Preserving most of the economic benefits, including, crucially, that of freedom of movement, is a hell of a lot better than jumping off the cliff that is no deal. The hypothetical aspect of the question emphasises that this is hardly my first choice; I would far rather that we simply stayed in and got the benefits of having a say in the rules (or had a second referendum). There are a lot of shitty aspects to leaving in any circumstances. But we no longer have the option of pretending everything will be rosy, so if we must leave, that's my preference. It follows that the harder the Brexit, the more I dislike it.

The converse question then needs to be put to the Brexiteers : "if we leave, what's the softest form of Brexit that would be most acceptable to you ?" And that one I don't know how to answer.

PM expected to meet Corbyn for Brexit talks

Theresa May is expected to meet Jeremy Corbyn later after she said she wanted to work with the Labour leader to break the Brexit deadlock. The prime minister hopes she and Mr Corbyn can come up with a modified version of her withdrawal deal with the EU that can secure the backing of MPs.