Henry Newman of Open Europe, an organisation that has beavered away assiduously in the background for years and years to get Brexit (HERE) has been giving 'evidence' to the Exiting the EU Select Committee (HERE) about how the Irish backstop can be improved to make it more acceptable. This is part of what Mr Newman told the committee:
"On a possible second Brexit referendum he added that we could 'end up with campaigns chasing different unicorns. The Remain Campaign saying all No Deal money can be spent on tax cuts, the No Deal Campaign will make promises of the money of the so-called ‘Brexit bill’ being spent on domestic objectives, and Labour frontbenchers talking about the Labour Brexit deal which does not exist. This makes a second referendum profoundly problematic in all directions.' He also pointed out that if the UK would decide to cancel its withdrawal, it would remain in the EU under the terms set out before former Prime Minister David Cameron re-negotiated the terms of the UK’s EU membership.
"Finally, Newman explained that at this stage in the Brexit process 'there are two ways to leave [the EU]: with the Deal on the table (either with tweaks or without) or without a Deal,' adding,
"Saying there are other options is not serious policy. There is dishonesty in public debate about the options available at this point".
He tries to rubbish the idea of a second referendum option as 'profoundly problematic' and implies the only two options open are the deal or no deal. But neither of his two solutions will ever get through parliament and are well beyond 'profoundly problematic', they are both quite impossible.
But this is the Brexiteers answer to all the problems isn't it?. To paraphrase and badly misquote Sherlock Holmes:-
"When you have eliminated the improbable however unlikely, whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth?”
