IT is becoming increasingly apparent that the UK Government is looking at the Brexit process through some mind-bending prism.
What else would explain Theresa May’s baffling insistence that Europe are somehow mandated by the British EU referendum to accept whatever bonkers deal she and her colleagues have cooked up?
Her argument that she has treated Europe with “respect” is entirely bogus. Instead of listening to the perfectly valid concerns of her European counterparts and seeking a compromise she dismisses out of hand their reservations and makes clear her anger at their refusal to simply comply with her wishes.
Showing Europe the “respect” it is due would have meant, for example, dealing seriously with the Irish border issue instead of trying to kick it into the long grass for some future prime minister to grapple with.
Showing Europe “respect” would have meant acknowledging what everyone knows: her Chequers deal will not be accepted even by those on her own side in her Cabinet, never mind the wider British public (the majority of whom find it wanting, according to a recent poll).
It is dead in the water. She still clings to it as the basis for a Brexit deal only because her Government has been unable to come up with an alternative.
But if May has been disrespectful towards Europe it’s hard to find the right word to describe her attitude to Scotland. So desperate is she to undermine the wishes of the people of Scotland that she’s unwilling to accept any deal on the Irish border which the Scottish Government would seek to replicate.
Michael Russell, Scotland’s minister for all things Brexit, is right to demand an apology for the prime minister’s shameful attitude.
Of course, an apology seems a far from adequate response. There is just one thing stopping us from suggesting May should consider her position and resign... the alternatives are all very much worse.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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