Brexit: MPs in Remain and Leave camp must unite on this one issue '“ leader comment

Brexiteers and Remainers must unite to avoid the potential catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit.

Anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray (left) and a pro-Brexit protester argue as they demonstrate outside the UK Parliament (Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Theresa May is right about one thing at least: this is a day that will live long in British history. When MPs pass judgement on her proposed Brexit deal today – and, surely, the Prime Minister cannot delay the “meaningful vote” again – it will have a profound effect on life in this country.

The deal is a flawed, fudged compromise that leaves the UK subject to EU rules without having any say in them and many of the most important questions unanswered. But that is virtually a product of the task May’s Government set itself: to leave the European Union, Single Market and Customs Union, while at the same time safeguarding the UK economy.

Those two things – Britain’s EU membership and its economic fortunes – are so closely interwoven that untangling it has proved to be something of a Gordian knot, while the Irish border question is probably harder to answer than Tam Dalyell’s West Lothian one.

The situation would have been much easier if May had decided we could leave the EU but stay in the Single Market. Brexiteers’ inevitable rage would have been ameliorated by the UK’s actual departure and they could have continued to campaign for a clean break, while Remainers would have been happy to have avoided one.

However, the situation now facing MPs is this. Those that wish to see Brexit happen should vote for May’s deal. It may be a terrible one, but it is significantly better than a no-deal despite empty rhetoric about the opposite being true. For the sake of their own cause, they should be pragmatic.

If Brexit Britain is born into a recession of 2008 proportions, which some experts say could be the effect of a no-deal, if Leave voters’ hopes for a brighter future are unceremoniously shattered, the consequences could be dire. Tough economic times have a tendency to boost support for the extremes of politics and its supporters will be hunting for people to blame. Things could get decidedly ugly.

Even if a hard Brexit was in the interests of the UK – and it is not – it is simply common sense to achieve such a dramatic change in stages, rather than overnight.

And Brexiteer MPs should also support May from a purely tactical point of view. There appears to be a majority in the Commons against a no-deal exit, so if her deal fails Brexit could well be delayed or called off, pending a second referendum.

As for Remain MPs, voting against May’s deal carries a risk of achieving precisely what they hope to avoid. While it seems like there is a Commons majority to stop it, a no-deal Brexit is the default position. So Remainers planning to vote against May better be certain they have the numbers required to prevent an accidental catastrophe. Historians will not be kind if they get that calculation wrong.

Overturning the result of the EU referendum would obviously require another one in which the latest ‘Will of the People’ was expressed – and the people actually voted to Remain. As sensible as it seems to some, that result is far from guaranteed and a second Leave vote would end all debate; we’d get what we asked for, whether we liked it or not.

In essence, The Scotsman’s view is that avoiding a no-deal Brexit is now the overriding priority. Anything – even May’s terrible deal – but that. It would have been better if we’d never got into this terrible mess, but here we are, deep in it, and any escape route will involve pragmatism, compromise if necessary, and a firm commitment to peaceful, liberal democracy. Sinister forces are circling – quite literally at Westminster – but politicians of all parties must speak out against any signs of violence or rhetoric that might encourage it.

Best of luck to MPs tonight. They, and the country, will need it.