Opinion

Brexit slanging match a worrying development

TOUGH talking between politicians usually goes on behind closed doors. Whenever they stand in front of microphones and pronounce sentiments that are diametrically opposed to the views, aims and ambitions of their opponents it leaves little room for negotiation or compromise.


With that in mind these past few days have been less than encouraging with respect to the long, drawn-out, and so far unsuccessful negotiations between Theresa May and European Union leaders on the method by which Britain will leave the EU in March.

In public at least Mrs May was very upbeat as she prepared to meet her counterparts in Salzburg earlier this week.

There was a hint that she believed her Chequers proposals would receive a fair hearing and some encouragement.

That was not to be the case. More than that, some very blunt language was used by some of the EU leaders, with Emmanuel Macron going so far as to say that Brexit leaders who promised an 'easy' exit from Europe were liars.

Yesterday afternoon Mrs May replied in equally robust terms. She said that progress has been made in the talks but acknowledged that the sides were no closer to a resolution of two key areas: the economic relationship between Britain and the EU after March 2019 and the avoidance of hard border in Ireland.

Mrs May went on to present a very depressing picture of where the negotiations are now, stating: "Throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect.

"The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it.

"At this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side's proposals without a detailed explanation and counter proposals."

This call for understanding did not sit well with earlier tracts of her speech which used terms such as "it is unacceptable" and "we will never agree" to "anything that threatens the integrity of our union".

Significantly, Mrs May also bluntly stated that the talks were "at an impasse".

It remains to be seen if she is simply playing hard ball with her counterparts.

However, if that really is the case then the possibility of a hard Brexit must be becoming more real.

Only time will tell if what we witnessed over the past few days was a very public game of brinkmanship.

Indeed, many experts and pundits state that despite the stated polar opposite positions of the two sides, it will all somehow 'be worked out'.

We must hope that this very public round of negotiations has not pushed the protagonists into a corner and that there is enough room between the harsh words and sentiments for compromise.