Theresa May can now drive a hard Brexit bargain – and she knows it

The backdrop to Theresa May’s Brexit speech is almost as interesting as the speech itself promises to be. First, there’s the government’s very deliberate decision to make clear—via a Philip Hammond interview in the German press—that Britain will play hardball if it can’t secure a decent deal with the EU. Hammond made clear to Welt am Sonntag that if the UK can’t negotiate a reasonable new trading arrangement with the EU then it is prepared to slash tax and regulation to make its economy more competitive. This is a deliberate attempt to play on European worries about having some kind of Singapore West on its doorstep.

Hammond’s intervention is striking because he had been the senior Cabinet minister most wary about the economic consequences of Brexit. This interview showed he is no longer fighting a rear-guard action in government to try and keep the UK in the single market but has instead moved into how to make Brexit work mode.

Then, there is Donald Trump and his talk of a trade deal with the UK and his prediction that other countries will follow the UK out of the EU.