May must stand down
Brexit won’t end the way we want it to. In this case “we” can mean literally anyone (except if you’re Jean-Claude Juncker), because whether we leave with the Government’s deal or with no deal, nobody really asked for this sort of outcome. After all, this is exactly what the EU wanted. Brexit happened at an important time for the Union, so making an example out of us was the best way to dampen euroscepticism on the continent and push forward with the federalist agenda. It meant that the fear of god would be reinstated in the hearts of EU citizens, who should now accept that if they tried to leave it would all go very pear-shaped for their country. The EU’s way would be the only way.
Yet, for all their machiavellian tricks, the head honchos in Brussels aren’t idiots. They’re still getting some blood on their hands from kicking us out of the club in the most dramatic fashion possible and, contrary to popular belief, they still somewhat care about their citizens. Were trade, travel, transactions and any other interaction-based word starting with the letter ‘t’ to simply halt from one day to the next, genuine chaos would erupt in Calais (and we all know how that ended last time). A very good bet as to what would happen in the eventuality of a no-deal Brexit is a de facto continuation of many of the rules in place governing day-to-day interactions between the EU and the UK.
We aren’t all cold-blooded jurists- loopholes will be found (and already are: the EU’s albeit skimpy planning for a no-deal Brexit essentially constitutes maintaining many of the norms in place vis-a-vis tourism, freight and financial transactions) and one can imagine that with a very real risk of medicine shortages or job losses, common sense would prevail and many rules would be maintained as they are until an actual deal treating them is found- be it through ad-hoc agreements on their maintenance or just a simple on-the-ground rejection of recognising the change until a deal is struck.
So, once the EU is done making a fool of us and while agreements are made on temporarily maintaining the status quo, Theresa May has told us she will eventually stand down, at least before the next General Election. This would pave the way for a new leader and prime minister, who would thus be given an open field to work on. The EU will have finished humiliating Mrs.”Brexit-means-Brexit” and will now have someone who represents the beginning of a new relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom. From the EU’s perspective, this still makes them the good guys- sticking to their guns during negotiations and being the bigger man by agreeing to negotiate a new relationship.
From our perspective, it means a clean slate. The only way of making de facto agreements with the EU go away is by chiselling away at them with smaller, individual deals. One big divorce deal was never going to work. The EU would now be more lenient to negotiate, no longer bound by commitment to be harsh on us, and we would be free to negotiate a proper agreement with them piece-by-piece instead of rushing it all into one big package (like we have done).
A leadership election would also be strategic for the party-at-large with a General Election looming. If we leave the reins to May until it’s too late, we will be the party who made Brexit their mandate and screwed it up royally and we will damn ourselves to electoral oblivion. However, a new leader and proper negotiations would be a shot at redemption- a way to prove that we were in it for the long-haul and that we could stick it to the EU even by playing their game. No matter what happens, let’s leave the fearmongering and exaggeration to the tabloids- we should stick to common-sense politics.