Britain needs a trade deal more than the EU does

Editorial: The public is in no mood for further economic hardship, in the end we’ll buckle and give way on negotiations

Trade negotiations between the EU and UK are under way (Getty/iStock)

It is hard to accept the possibility that the parliamentary and judicial Brexit wranglings of last year are about to be repeated. Knife-edge votes, walkouts, leaks, negotiations stalling, Supreme Court judgments, Tory rebels, Labour splits, threats and insults, talk of traitors and the Dunkirk spirit... could it really be deja vu all over again?

It already is, and with some of the same personalities. Although the arithmetic in the Commons was transformed by last year’s Tory purges and December’s general election, dissent within Tory ranks about reneging on the UK-EU withdrawal agreement is already growing and organising.

Some of the veterans of last year’s battle in the Commons, such as Mr Ken Clark, Ed Vaizey and Philip Hammond are merely transferring to another front – the House of Lords. There they will be able to regroup with old allies, such as Lord (Michael) Heseltine, and join up with new useful new recruits such as Lord (Michael) Howard and Lord (Norman) Lamont.