Sky News (HERE) carry the reported comments of Michel Barnier about the UK being able to change its mind on the single market up to 2021 and even afterwards. Brexiteers will be viscerally opposed of course and even furious at the mere hint of a change of mind. However, the government should think very carefully about it. In my experience when faced with these kind of decisions (albeit with far, far less at stake) the ones where you are heading for something which could either be a triumph or a disaster, it is better to capitulate earlier rather than later.
To do so now would cause an almighty row it's true and a lot of the leave vote would be foaming at the mouth, but at least we would look like we understood the problems and saw it coming.
On the other hand, if you wait until the last possible moment and the decision is more or less forced on you, all the earlier bravado and posturing tend to make you look like a complete fool. The come down is so much more embarrassing as if you were the last to see what everyone else knew years before. You were just too stupid to notice. Leavers will still foam at the mouth of course but in addition even your own supporters will be in despair and in the case of a country, it is the government and the Tory party that will pay the price.
