[Ed: this is the first part of a five-part series which will be published over the coming days here on UKIP Daily.]

A  transition period lasting at least two years after March 2019 when the UK will have to abide by EU laws including new ones; a massive “divorce  bill” currently slated to be around £39 billion  and probably much more ; the European Court of Justice  (ECJ)  to  have a role in the UK justice system not only during the transition period but perhaps  for years after the UK has supposedly left the EU; the cut off point for EU citizens gaining  rights of residence to be at least  March 2019 (and probably substantially  longer) ;  EU citizens with rights of residence in the UK to have the right to bring in their relatives, spouses and even their partners  to the UK and  the UK and the EU to be in  alignment on standards and procedures  when it comes to trade  because of the “hard border” problem between  the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.  All that and more tells the story of Theresa May’s rapid betrayal of Brexit.

What has motivated the woman to dishonour the  Brexit vote so obviously and emphatically?  It  can only be attributed to one of two things or a combination of both, viz:  

  1. May is simply out of her depth and acted out of fear.
  2.  May is an unrepentant remainer at heart who is quite happy to see circumstances arise which allow Brexit to be effectively nullified.

It is unreasonable to expect May to be wholeheartedly working to achieve a true Brexit because someone fundamentally opposed to a course of action will be unable to support it with enthusiasm. Indeed, it is more than likely that a person in such a situation will be secretly pleased if the attempted course of action fails. At worst the person will use their involvement in the course of action to sabotage its desired end.

It is also worth remembering that May is the worst type of remainer, namely, a  cowardly one as she showed with her near invisibility during the referendum campaign. That was the behaviour of an opportunist, not a person acting out of principle and opportunists can never be relied on to do anything other than follow their own interest. May will have decided that her own interest in this situation is to actively sabotage Brexit or at least to drag things out in the hope that, Micawber-like, something will turn up to destroy Brexit.

May’s capitulation to the EU should surprise no one who has followed her ministerial career. As Home Secretary May was constantly making encouraging statements about reducing immigration but never doing anything to make reality match her words. This habit of talking tough and then not seeing a stated policy through to fruition extended to much of what she did. This is also how she has behaved over Brexit, espousing tough slogans such as ‘Brexit means Brexit’ and then collapsing in a heap when faced with a hostile EU.

Here is what May  said in her campaign to be Tory leader and PM:

“There will be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it by the back door, and no second referendum. The country voted to leave the European Union, and as prime minister I will make sure that we leave the European Union.”

And here she is on 11 December 2017 about her “offer” (in reality a modern Danegeld) of £39 billion to allow the negotiation of the UK’s  relationship with the EU post-Brexit to begin:

“It [the£39 bn] depends upon a broader agreement being reached – as I have said, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed – so if there is no agreement then our offer also falls away.”

Based on her past behaviour can anyone rationally believe May will be willing to walk away with no deal?  Moreover, even if a hallway decent deal is done on trade the  UK would still be left with all the concessions May has already made and some of those in themselves make a true Brexit impossible, for example, the alignment of the whole of the UK with EU trading standards and procedures.

Remainer domination of the positions of power and influence

It is true that May is in a stickier position now than a year she was a year ago because of the result of the General Election which she called that resulted in the loss of her Commons majority. But that is no excuse for her weakness when dealing with the EU for the  Election did not fundamentally alter the Commons arithmetic. It is marginally easier now for the Remainers to amend or vote down legislation or pass motions hindering Brexit but that is all. Even if May had not called an election her Government would still have been vulnerable to Remainer attempts to destroy Brexit for we have a Remainer dominated Cabinet, a Remainer dominated Tory Parliamentary Party, a Remainer dominated House of Commons and a Remainer dominated House of Lords.

Nor is it just the those with a formal political position who have been grinding the Remainer axe incessantly. Tony Blair has made no bones about wanting to stop Brexit at any cost and Nick Clegg has come down in favour of a second referendum and advocated the votes of the under 30s count double.

Outside of ex-politicians there have also been attempts to delay and complicate Brexit by wealthy people such as Gina Miller who forced a judicial review which resulted in the Supreme Court forcing the Government to legislate before activating Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

 

[To be continued in Part Two tomorrow here on UKIP Daily.]