Brexit: The end of the beginning

It’s now obvious Britain is leaving the single market.

Of course, Theresa May spent much of her speech to the Tory party conference today insisting there was no such thing as a hard or soft Brexit. But there is. Continued membership of the single market is a soft Brexit and leaving the single market is a hard Brexit. We are going to have a hard Brexit. And worse – it’ll be a chaotic hard Brexit.

The suspicion grew throughout the speech. The language was tough and all the old vague slogans, such as freedom of movement changing from how it ‘worked until now’, were jettisoned. It was clear that in a decision between border control and membership of the single market, May was going to pick border control.

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In years to come this will be considered one of the most disastrous speeches ever made by a British prime minister.

To steal a line from Churchill, who is a shining example of Britain Alone or Europe Together depending on how you interpret him, this is definitely the end of the beginning of Brexit.

Source: May speech makes it clear: We’re leaving the single market