Response to May Statement

However you dress it up, this Conservative Government can now only deliver a catastrophic hard/’no deal’ Brexit.

Of course I appreciate that Theresa May found herself isolated and humiliated amongst her EU counterparts yesterday and will want to show her Conservative party competitors that she’s not holed up in her bunker today.

Normally leaders call a dramatic press conference if they have something to say. But today she just said she’s right and they’re wrong.

She says she now expects the EU to come up with solutions. But they’re not leaving us. We’re leaving them. They don’t have to resolve a difficulty entirely of our making.

She says she wants to leave the EU AND avoid a hard border in Ireland. It’s like saying she wants to be an elephant AND to fly like a bird.

She says she’s determined and is “working night & day” to deliver what’s best for Britain. But it’s obstinacy not determination. It will deliver the opposite.

For those who have no choice but to stand on the sidelines watching, it’s like helplessly watching a very slow train crash which you know will cause massive carnage for many more miles down the track.

(And for those who are looking to local MPs to show leadership at this time…? Well, that depends which way the wind’s blowing. In the meantime they’ll be urgently attending photo opportunities with cuddly animals or earnestly supporting Parish level projects…)