Report comment

The question is not how the proposals appeal to the Law Society but how they will be received in the EU. One fears that the reaction is going to be that the UK cannot pick and choose - a point that has been made from a very early stage. The best way to engineer a hard Brexit may be to make sure that any proposals that are put to the EU will be rejected or so amended as to be unacceptable to Parliament when the time comes. All the blame can then be put on the other side as well as ensuring that Britain crashes out. I may be unduly cynical but I suspect there are individuals in government who are looking for just that result.