Germany’s Angela Merkel could score in Brextra Time with a solution to the Irish backstop dilemma for Britain
WHO said Brexit was boring? Infuriated Brits are glued to their TV screens as our once great Westminster system of government turns into a non-stop soap opera.
The BBC Parliament channel is rivalling Netflix as a record 3.5million viewers watch treacherous MPs knife each other and trash sacred election promises before their very eyes.
Such ratings for an obscure channel should alarm all those MPs trying to stymie the 52 per cent who voted Out in 2016. They show voters are paying attention.
Friday’s good-humoured protest by thousands of Brexit marchers in Westminster — on a working weekday — was in contrast to the otherwise souring mood among voters at large. Across the country, those who voted Leave in 2016 are taking note and, if betrayed, will seek revenge.
The Black Spot planted on Tory plotter Dominic Grieve by his constituents last week is just for starters.
The real blowback will come at the next election whenever it takes place — unless Britain is no longer a member of the EU.
Polls yesterday suggested Labour is five points ahead of the Tories and poised to form a minority Government.
These figures are meaningless. The next election will be decided not by votes for or against the major parties, but on the candidates’ support for the referendum result.
There are 17.4million votes up for grabs. They will either support pro-Brexit candidates or stay home and sit on their hands. Either way, it will transform the poll.
Labour votes will be mopped up in Leave seats by Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party, what’s left of Ukip, or, in Remain seats, by Labour deserters now known as Change UK.
The picture is different for the Tories, depending upon when any poll is held and what happens in the next few weeks.
A snap election, apparently to be announced on Wednesday, would be suicidal. Anything led by Theresa May would be a bloodbath.
Under a new pro-Brexit leader, with breathing space to regroup, it could be an opportunity to clear the air once and for all. Meanwhile, we face further Commons chaos, showdowns with Brussels, the possibility of fighting European elections in May — and the outside chance of “crashing out”.
No Deal is no big deal, as ex-Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told The Sun last week — at least for Britain. We would swiftly overcome a short, bumpy ride.
‘SUPPORT FOR POPULISTS HAS MUSHROOMED’
Not so for Europe — and for all their bluster, EU states are beginning to fear it happening by accident.
Germany is grimly aware it is about to lose the UK as a long-standing ally in the balance of European power with France and the EU’s hard-up southern states.
Without our £13billion-a-year contribution — one of the biggest by EU states — Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece will be queuing in Berlin for German cash.
Unless a deal on frictionless trade is reached, German exporters will be hammered and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in their manufacturing industry.
Support for “populist” parties — including in Germany — has mushroomed since the UK voted Leave.
Which explains this week’s dash to Dublin by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She wants preening Irish PM Leo Varadkar to stop playing games and solve the Irish backstop question.
Either he bows to technological solutions to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland or there will be a hard border at Calais with Ireland on the wrong side.
Merkel knows a solution to the backstop problem would persuade the DUP to support Mrs May’s Withdrawal Bill, and even push it over the line at the fourth time of asking.
That, in turn, would be enough to persuade all but the most stubborn Tories to sign up and, along with a few extra Labour votes, bring this edition of the long-running Brexit soap to a close.
As always with these negotiations, nothing is settled until everything is settled, always at the 11th hour. It is now 11.30pm and ticking.
Let’s hope the Irish Taioseach put his clocks forward yesterday.
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Stop-and-search Saj
WITH half an eye on his leadership dream, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has reversed predecessor Theresa May’s decision to ditch police stop and search.
He needs results fast. In yet another bloody incident, four innocent civilians were knifed at random in North London, apparently by the same man. But knife murders are sometimes little more than initiation rites.
Stop and search by itself is not enough. Mobile detector arches must be deployed without warning where crowds gather.
The only way to beat this scourge is to make knives too hot to handle.
