The Spectator

The beginning is nigh

Ignore the doom-mongers, and the EU’s attempts to embarrass Britain – a good deal is looking likelier than ever

Just a few weeks ago, the Conservatives triumphed in the local government elections and Theresa May was hailed as an all-conquering Brexit Boudicca who could do no wrong. Now, after her general election humiliation, an opposite view has taken hold: that the government is a disaster, the country is in an irredeemable mess, Brexit has been derailed and nothing can go right. This is a sign that parliamentary recess is overdue; a great many people are -exhausted and a little emotional. But the facts, for those with an eye to see them, do not give grounds for such pessimism.

The Tories have lost their majority and deserved to do so after an awful campaign. But some 85 per cent of the public voted for parties promising a clean exit from the European Union, the better to retrieve sovereignty and freedom to negotiate our own trade deals with the rest of the world. It was a call not to withdraw from the world, but to manage globalisation better; a reminder that the nation state still matters, especially to those who look to it for protection.

The official Brexit talks were always going to be a pantomime, intended to embarrass Britain. The European Union has taken Brexit badly, and is understandably anxious that a majority of French, Spanish, Italians and Poles now say they would support a referendum on their EU membership. We can expect patronising remarks from Jean-Claude Juncker, and various staged events intended to portray Theresa May as isolated and friendless. At the last Brussels summit she was asked to give a presentation while waiters cleared away dinner cutlery. This is how the EU works — which is, in part, why so many Britons voted to leave.

Brexit was never about withdrawing from Europe, but was about striking a new relationship with our neighbours

The EU sells more to Britain than we buy from its member states, so it has a greater need for a free-trade deal.

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