Theresa May must tear up the cheque for the EU & sail us into Brexit’s blue waters
Currently, the PM is driving Brexit towards a parliamentary brick wall with no brakes, no steering and no idea what to do next
THERESA May is driving Brexit towards a parliamentary brick wall with no brakes, no steering . . . and no idea what to do next.
Her only hope is that some drunk from the European Commission might toss her a flimsy lifeline in return for £39billion.
What a shambles as we celebrate what should have been a brilliant New Year. Thanks to this Prime Minister, we haven’t a clue how 2019 will start, let alone finish.
Chaos is the only certainty as the Government faces parliamentary defeat over her Chequers botch.
We might then be in for a grinding marathon of rematches, a crisis General Election, a second referendum or — the only really positive option — joining hands with the rest of the world.
Thanks to Brexit saboteur Phil Hammond, the path to those open seas is blocked by tank traps, landmines and treasury barbed wire.
Hammond, aided by EU fifth columnist Olly Robbins, is the panic merchant behind Project Fear Mark 3.
Unless we accept Brexit In Name Only (BRINO), abide by EU rules on trade and customs and bow to the European Court of Justice, we will starve to death if we are not first eaten alive by rats. These are only “worst case” scenarios, you understand.
More likely, we would prosper and flourish without a deal and, after a brief period of turbulence, wonder what this bitterness and recrimination was all about.
Hammond, who loathes Mrs May and would have been sacked in a flash had she won her catastrophic 2017 election, is now lead blues singer with The Remoaners.
When the history of this bungled mess is written, he will emerge as principal villain, the Scrooge Chancellor who blocked every attempt to win a real deal from Brussels.
He has waited until too late to unleash a few quid to build ferry and port infrastructure.
His motive, shared by the hostage PM, is to drive home the fraudulent nightmares of No Deal at the expense of the national interest.
Olly Robbins, a fan of Stalin’s Soviet Union, is the so-called Brexit negotiator who failed at any point in the last two miserable years to wring a single unwilling concession out of Brussels.
History’s verdict will be harsher still if we now end up bogged down indefinitely with BRINO, locked into EU coils without any of the benefits of actually getting out.
Brussels doesn’t want us to leave — and they will make damned sure we don’t.
The catalyst will be the day Mrs May actually signs off £39BILLION to keep the leaky EU afloat while Britain remains shackled to a sinking ship.
So far, this vast sum is merely a digital symbol with no immediate impact on the hard-pressed taxpayers who must pay.
But once this cheque is cashed, reality will dawn with unpredictable consequences.
For there is no magic £39billion sitting in Treasury vaults. We would have to borrow it to bail out the EU — while struggling to pay our own bills here at home.
Britain has little appetite for social unrest. For the moment, we can look across the Channel with bemused detachment as Paris is engulfed in flames.
But 17.4million people here voted for Brexit. They knew what they were doing.
The same is not quite true of those who voted to stay.
Many were reluctant Remainers. Some would have voted for Brexit, but for George Osborne’s original Shock and Horror. They know better now.
They have seen ministers crying “wolf” too often.
They don’t believe Theresa May, Hammond, the Treasury or discredited George “Six Jobs” Osborne.
No Deal terrifies Brussels but it doesn’t scare waverers any more.
Along with Tory MPs returning fortified by local supporters after the Christmas break, most are braced and ready for leaving the EU on global trade terms.
Mrs May is banking everything on a last-ditch deal with Brussels over the Northern Ireland scam.
Without it, she — or someone else — must tear up the cheque, hoist the sails and steer Britain out of the EU and into clear blue water.
NHS BLUNDERS
ENERGETIC Health Secretary Matt Hancock wants to make the patchy NHS world class.
Here’s one good reason why he must.
A friend with a skin blemish was booked for a biopsy in Chelmsford, Essex, last March.
Months rolled by.
So she paid out of her savings for a biopsy and then surgery after a specialist confirmed cancer and warned delay might have serious consequences.
This weekend, NINE months later, she received a letter of apology and an update on her place in the queue for the biopsy.
How many patients die before they get a letter like that?