The complexities of leaving the EU left me bewildered and confused. There seemed no answers to a myriad of questions and problems. Now I see what is going to happen.
Both teams of negotiators are locked into a long agenda of negotiation. There seems no prospect of any outcome within two years. The UK’s two year negotiating window will be extended, probably for a further two years and, if necessary, this will be repeated until the time is ripe. This will happen when we are war-weary and resigned to the apparently intractable problems of leaving the EU.
Then, either through a Manifesto or another Referendum we will be offered a solution. It will be carefully worded not to suggest that we are going to stay in the EU. Something along the lines of “should the UK stay in the European single market and customs union?”
After that we can ruefully look back at the angst we have been through and contemplate our future on the fringes of the EU, paying our tithes and with hugely reduced influence. Our politicians will have what they want, our businesses will have what they need, the Irish border problem gone away, and only a small rump of the electorate baffled as to why we didn’t leave the EU. I just hope that in the period until the time is ripe the UK economy is not too badly damaged.