Henry Newman on breaking the Brexit deadlock

The Capitalist

Brexit is at an impasse.

The row between Theresa May and David Davis over the wording of a customs backstop ended with a fudge of a fudge of a fudge. This has only underlined just how difficult this government has found it to pin its Brexit colours to the mast.

That is partly because of a disagreement within Cabinet. But it's also the product of a hung Parliament that means whatever the government agrees, a majority of MPs could take a different view and scupper the whole thing.

With the Brexit countdown clock ticking, a crucial series of votes on the EU withdrawal bill around the corner, and a council meeting at the end of the June, Theresa May is running out of time.

To help break the deadlock, Open Europe, home to some of the smartest thinking on UK-EU relations, this week published its blueprint for a deal that is a workable compromise in what is a fraught Brexit debate.

In a special Brexit edition of the Free Exchange podcast I spoke to Open Europe’s director Henry Newman about their proposal for a pragmatic deal with the EU as well as why Brexit has drifted so badly off course.

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