Is no-deal Brexit really an option for Britain?

Politics Explained: Crashing out of the EU has been billed as a clean break from Brussels – but it isn’t quite that simple

No-deal Brexit is more an abstract concept than a policy option/proposal. As concept, it is like Britain’s Trident nuclear missiles – a weapon so terrible that using it would invite retaliation and, thus, vast damage to both sides in any conflict.

If the threat of such use is credible, that very fact makes the actual use of it unnecessary – the deterrent effect.

As Boris Johnson explains it: “No one sensible would aim exclusively for a no-deal outcome. No one responsible would take no deal off the table.”