It now seems clear that however you try to define it, Brexit is impossible to deliver. The whole proposition was from the very start an illusion. It is technically feasible, if everybody is agreed on how it is to be done, under what rules and without regard to the fact that irreconcilable interests are in play.
But if you factor in that the United Kingdom is split, with Scotland and Northern Ireland voting remain and England and Wales voting to leave and that the margins are narrow, you have a split country trying to make the biggest constitutional change since the days of Oliver Cromwell. And in a democracy to do that, you must have a clear and unambiguous majority, at least two thirds. Add to that unity must prevail for each preference. Yes must agree what yes means and No must agree what no means.
Every particle of that is missing in this current Brexit crisis, made worse by the Fixed Term Parliament Act, ending the traditional Prime Ministerial power to go to the country and the Supreme Court Ruling that Article 50 and its consequences must be subject to parliamentary approval. This tinkering with what had been previous practices within our unwritten constitution, has changed the country from one renowned for strong decisive government, to one where, for the moment at least, effective government has collapsed. The executive authority of the PM is hobbled and the executive power of the cabinet is split. If that is not enough we have to face the prospect of new sectarian unrest over the Irish Border and a dash for independence by an angry Scotland caught up in the chaos.
Both main parties are split on the key question and split again within each faction. Everybody is against May’s agreed withdrawal deal, but there is not only no other plan prepared, but no agreement anywhere over what such a plan should be. There is no prospect in sight of unity on what Brexit is and what the benefits will be. Eventually a consensus will emerge from the confusion to back the only known viable option.
To abandon the project and stay in the EU.