The Prime Minister and her colleagues are very slowly starting to reveal what they think they mean when they say ‘Brexit means Brexit’. This afternoon the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis will give a statement to Parliament on what the terms of negotiation might resemble for Brexit – or at least what the terms that ministers have come up with over the summer are. It may be that the Government isn’t actually ready to set very much out at all, but is just trying to avoid an urgent question from a hostile MP by giving a statement.
Davis has described this as ‘an historic and positive moment for our nation’, which presumably isn’t just referring to the fact that the man repeatedly tipped for a Cabinet return whenever David Cameron was in trouble will finally stand at the Dispatch Box today. He will doubtless face questions from his own side about the Government’s plan for controlling immigration now that Theresa May has dismissed the points-based system advocated by Vote Leave and five of her Cabinet ministers. But it is clear that the Government isn’t clear what that new plan is: a Number 10 statement said ‘the precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals to Britain after Brexit is yet to be determined. However, as the PM has said many times in the past, a points-based system will not work and is not an option.’
Other demands will be about the timetable for Brexit negotiations, with the biggest fuss over the summer from eurosceptics being about when Article 50 will be triggered. That summer holiday is over, and those eurosceptics clearly mean business: we will see this afternoon just what the end of Theresa May’s honeymoon period looks like.
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