Opinion

Time for Theresa May to delay Brexit

WITH the planned date for Brexit just a month away, one of the more useful insights into the crisis is Samuel Johnson’s observation that when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Theresa May might now like to concentrate her mind if she is to avoid being politically hanged in the House of Commons a fortnight from now, when she will try once again to have her Brexit deal passed.

The prime minister’s strategy so far has been to hope that enough MPs from both major parties will reach a last-minute consensus that a bad deal is better than no deal.

Her high-stakes game is based on the hope that a majority will lose their nerve and support her, just 17 days before Brexit is due.

But she has failed to cobble together a makeshift coalition which would guarantee parliamentary approval for her plan and she faces another heavy defeat.

There are indications that she is now the one showing signs of nervousness.

Apart from some extreme right-wing Tories, few would seriously advocate a no-deal Brexit in view of its catastrophic impact on the UK economy. That means Mrs May has little choice but to consider delaying the date.

Although she is due to address the Commons today, a more significant event is tomorrow’s motion by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, which is supported by former Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin.

It attempts to enable parliament to demand that the government seeks an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process, thereby delaying Brexit.

Three UK cabinet ministers have hinted that they will support it. Although some Tory backbenchers have argued for a two-month delay, senior EU officials are reported to be willing to delay Brexit for up to two years.

This would allow a more carefully constructed future relationship between the EU and the UK, particularly in the context of the Irish border.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last night said he would back the Cooper-Letwin attempt to rule out a no-deal outcome, and would support a second referendum to stop Mrs May’s deal being “forced on the country” if the party’s own Brexit demands are not enshrined in law.

In recent months Mrs May has sought to delay votes on Brexit. It is now time for her to delay Brexit itself.

Such a delay would not undermine the democratic decision of the Brexit referendum and it would end her unseemly strategy of trying to press gang MPs to support a decision to head off her increasingly empty threat of a no-deal Brexit.

The prime minister’s strategy has run out of time. If she wishes to buy more, she must delay Brexit. Yvette Cooper’s motion tomorrow will give her the chance to do so.