We need to remember that there is a substantial difference between sovereignty and isolation

Editorial: There is still a small degree of hope that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided, but it involves recognising some important truths

There is time for the two sides to come to an agreement (AP)

In politics, as in sport, it sometimes pays to examine the form book. Doing so in the looming case of “no deal” provides a degree of hope that it can be avoided – although any deal that has anything to do with Boris Johnson will probably create fresh hazards of its own.

The last time the prime minister had to reach a legally binding agreement with the European Union he succeeded. The UK-EU withdrawal agreement was indeed the only “oven ready” part of getting Brexit done, and it was duly ratified by both sides after the last general election – against the odds, it has so far survived.

What has been the secret of its success? A healthy dose of ambiguity. On the Northern Ireland protocol, much of the “implementation” was conveniently assumed by both sides to be mere matters of detail. A joint committee was convened, and technical working groups sprouted from it. Even now they have not settled all the important procedural questions, but there has been progress and mostly a series of UK concessions to reality.