By pressurizing MPs to compromise and accept TMs soft brexit package. The consequences politically and socially would be catastrophic for the UK.
The ‘leavers’ would be slightly appeased and the rest of us escaping with a soft option.
Leave the EU and then under a different government apply to re-join would be one solution.
Which is shit for all sorts of reasons, not just the backstop although I can see why the ERG don’t like it, not only for the obvious reason that it locks us into a customs union (which they don’t want) but also because it exposes their mendacity - if they truly believed in their “alternative arrangements” and “technical solutions” they wouldn’t care too much about it as it would never come into play.
Don’t kid yourself though - May’s deal is not a “soft Brexit” it is a full-on hard Brexit, I think that you have drunk too much Brexit Party/ERG Kool-Aid where a plan to take us fully out of the single market, to cease free movement, to withdraw from allmost all EU institutions is viewed as a “soft” Brexit.
My point is that there is no good route out from the current position.
Abandoning Brexit is arguably the best short term ploy - but to pull that off long term without (legitimate) criticism would require honesty with the populace about the costs and benefits of EU membership, hard work to reverse the economic decline of the regions, and hard work to redefine our place within the EU.
It won’t happen - for one it would require buy-in from all corners of the political spectrum which is essentially the same as hoping to find a supply of unicorn droppings with which to fertilise your flower beds.
A referendum - well, it might be the only way to break the log jam short term but it is not necessarily a way to longer term clarity - expect paralysis over what options to put on the ballot followed by a vitriolic campaign, Remain currently haven’t got their heads around how to effectively combat the Farage publicity machine (picked up no doubt from his “friends” in the 'States) and it is likely to be a close result which will do nothing long-term to heal wounds. As Farage said it will remain unfinished business - whichever way it goes.
Properly soft Brexit - à la Norway (+ CU probably). Dead post Lancaster House, I think. Tories, even moderate ones, foam at the mouth if you mention a customs union, much less single market membership so there’s no appetite there and there isn’t even much appetite on the Labour side for SM membership - maybe if there is a significant shift in Labour’s position and/or perhaps some Labour-LibDem pact (it won’t be a coalition, fingers burned etc) then maybe. But not possible until after a GE I suspect which is very probably not going to happen early.
May’s deal - probably the actual least awful option for all that it is shite, but if handled correctly it would get us out and give a few years (inevitably the transition would be extended) to try to manage Brexit without frying the economy - but it won’t be managed any better than anything so far in this sorry fiasco and Farage et al will be baying for no-deal at the end of it.
Kamikaze, ERG/Brexit Party no-deal. This has huge problems, especially as it is being sold as Brexit done and over with - which really belongs in the same basket as “easiest deal”, “we hold all the cards” and all the other Brexit lies.
It would do significant harm to our trade - obviously we would not be prevented from trade with the EU but it would become more expensive and bureaucratic - and trade with the EU or nations that we treat with through EU deals is about ⅔ of our total trade - it’s not to be sniffed at (and for all Trump goes on about doing a trade deal quickly that would be strictly on US terms and unlikely to be to the UKs advantage much at all).
And tariffs are only a small part of the story - it’s the non tariff stuff which is the real problem (something which most Brexiteers either don’t grasp or gloss over) - pulling out of the EU regulatory sphere with nothing to fall back upon will make life very difficult.
But for all that when we do ask the EU to start negotiating a trade deal the first thing they will do is demand we sign up to pretty much everything in the Withdrawal Agreement - no-deal will stay no-deal for very little time, we end up much in the same place as if we ratified the WA but with a much worse negotiating position and at huge cost to the nation.
I have occasionally though that the one good thing about no-deal is that it would strip bare all the lies but I have a horrible feeling Farage, JEM BJ et al would spin it into being May’s fault or the E’s fault and, given the demonstrable lack of critical thinking amongst the public at large, people would swallow it hook line and sinker - Farage as PM would be a dangerous step.
So, go on then Tim - how the f**k do we get ourselves out of this mess?
Given that all paths are awful, and will piss off large portions of the country maybe doing the thing that does us all least harm (revoking A50) is the correct move.
It’s one scenario - a difficult one though as we’d loose most of the opt outs we have negotiated over the years and might well have to agree to join the Euro - not sure how much appetite even the LibDems and Greens would have for that path.
Also, if we do leave and align ourselves with the US it might effectively be impossible.
Given that the UK will have a new PM soon, who exactly is going to revoke A50?
Well exactly - it isn’t going to happen just after a new PM, carried into office on a wave of frenzied no-deal support, takes up the reins.
However the problem that PM faces will be that the basics haven’t changed, Brexit is a shit idea and he (OK or she but I think it will be a he) will have painted himself even further into the corner - I wouldn’t rule it out in the slightly longer term, once the reality of the situation takes hold.
Sam Gyimah has declared he’s standing…first one to support a second referendum-final say-with remain as an option on the ballot paper… x 
It is possible for you to express yourself without having to resort to foul language ?
The UK government has to deliver some kind of Brexit because whether you (and I, a firm ‘remainer’) like it or not. People may have been conned into voting ‘leave’ by Brexit dogma and hyperbole but the vote was to leave, end of.
Conning the public has been happening by all prospective governments since time began so nowt new there.
Imagine the mood of the country if Brexit didn’t happen ? That would put the kybosh on the UK caling itself ‘a democracy’.
Just my opinion for the very little it’s worth.
It’s worth a lot Peter - just as much as everyone else’s!! I live by good old Eleanor Roosevelt’s’ quote ''No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" ![]()
Bet the golf course looks great at the moment ?
Beyond magnificent Peter - wish the golf was the same lol
I think my arms are either too long or… too short 
Certainly a pretty setting.
I’m now sorting out my clubs for a dramatic comeback, there is a practice range at Albi so my involuntary slice and fade can be mastered !
Probably, but my choice of language was not accidental.
It doesn’t, it really doesn’t
Might I remind you that Parliament is sovereign - if, after due process - Parliament decides that Brexit is a really stupid idea from start to finish and decides to revoke A50 then it has the legal right to do so.
There would be fall out from that decision, naturally, but it does not prevent Parliament from taking that path.
You really don’t get it, do you ?
‘Fall out’ is a slight understatement.
No, I get it alright - but you are deluding yourself if you think there is an option which avoids fall out.
The problem with Brexit is it is a bad idea to start with and then it has been made unimaginably worse by Theresa May’s handling of it, inadvertently aided by Mr Corbyn with the result that we are wedged up the creek with no paddle and no way of moving in any direction without pain.
Besides, the argument at this point is whether parliament could if it wanted revoke A50 - it certainly could but it doesn’t want to (at the moment).
I think Brexit can only be stopped after a referendum as it must be demonstrated “the will of the people” has changed - to try and stop it without effectively demonstrating it will lead to many years of very serious issues and resentment making a Farage government inevitable.
It is so frustrating the the underlying reason for Brexit is impending financial controls that some very rich people would rather didn’t exist in the City of London as these people will be so much better off without the controls.
This will never be admitted but instead issues such as “Sovereignty” will be put forward and sold to the masses - this is why there is absolutely no demonstrable argument for Brexit other than “Brexit must happen because we voted for it”.
I agree in as much that revoking A50 without a referendum will set Farage off on one but I am not convinced that a further vote would yield a definitive enough answer (i.e more than 55-60%) in favour of any outcome. Frankly I don’t think even 60-70% Remain will shut Farage up.
This is one important issue that is never much explored - sovereignty for who, exactly? - and the answer is, as you say, a small group of self-interested ultra wealthy individuals who are a bit narked that the EU limits their ability to become even more loaded with wonga.
There is one selfish positive side of Brexit -
I find myself currently lying in a hammock in our garden with the following view - if Brexit was not happening I can see it would have still been a few years until we moved over permenantly. (as you can tell I am struggling to see the positive side!)
Not going to happen. Firstly, because competing in the EU elections is different from GE. Voters tend to use local elections and EU elections to demonstrate against the current establishment. And NF is loathed by far too many people. What would help enormously is a new Labour leader. JC has proved himself totally incompetent at being a leader, although very good on the campaign trail. But that isn’t the same as having common sense in the face of realpolitik.
A new referendum sounds like the best way out of the whole horrid mess, especially as it has been three (very) long years since the original vote. I doubt there will be a GE unless the government is forced (via a vote of no-confidence) because they know that the tories will undoubtedly lose - bigly (!). In the meantime, I am principally pissed because I reckon the drop in the exchange rate has cost me around €12000 since the referendum. And NF, JRM and Boris have all been coining it. Mendacious swine, all of them.
I think a Freudian slip I read NF as National Front!
