The “hard Brexit” cadre of the Conservative Party has massively overplayed its hand. Refusing to support Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal with the European Union, they have enabled a “soft Brexit” alternative.
That’s my takeaway from May’s comment on Tuesday that she will work with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to forge a way forward on Brexit. May also said that she will seek an extension to Britain’s new Brexit date of April 12.
But it’s clear that the soft Brexiteers are the winners here. After all, the Labour Party is largely supportive of a Brexit along terms of a continued formal customs union with the EU.
This, unsurprisingly, has the hard-liners very upset. They feel betrayed and are saying as much. But they’re delusional. It was always clear that ignoring May’s halfway soft-hard Brexit deal was risky. It opened the political space to those who either oppose Brexit entirely or oppose anything but a softer Brexit. And now the hard-liners are reaping the whirlwind of their obstinacy.
May is likely to get her Brexit withdrawal extension, and when Brexit comes, it is likely to be on soft terms. Which, thanks to EU regulations, means we can forget a near-term U.S. trade deal.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-soft-brexit-just-got-a-lot-more-likely
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