As all good stories begin....

Once upon a time Mr Barnier offered a Canada +++ .  And, surprise surprise, that deal was also wanted by many of those in favour of leaving the EU.  But, even bigger surprise, it was also wanted by many of those who didn’t want to leave the EU, that is, the ones that had accepted the democratic wish of the people.   They realised that Canada +++ is actually a pretty good deal for the EU and the UK.    

And all was fine till Mrs May thought her Chequers proposal would be better.  And so we are in the mess we are in.   

Given no one seems to like Chequers, let’s just do the deal that seems to unite everyone.  Canada +++!

With good will (and yes I think Mr Barnier is a person of goodwill, though a hard negotiator) this can be done and dusted easily by 29th March 2019.  End of story.   

What’s so difficult Mrs May?  

What is so strange in this story is it is Mr Barnier that is leading the charge to a credible Brexit and thus spearheading the democratic mandate given to Mrs May there by creating clean break.  But he is a Gaullist after all, so it makes sense.