In the past two and a half days, May has decided. Has decided which of the two impossible and undeliverable and unacceptable (to the EU) plans, by combing bits from both and calling it a 3rd way which has never been clear if it actually exists at all.
At the end of the day, as Barnier put it today, the Single Market will never be sacrificed, there will be no cherry picking. UK has decided to leave, so can leave, but the situation with the NI/Irish border must be secured one way or another, or the backstop, to Ireland's and the EU's satisfaction.
May asserts that the technology can be partially up and running before the end of 2020 and fully implemented within 5 years. Government run IT projects do not have a good record in coming in on time or under budget. So this is more unicorns, but with wifi.
Today Ministers are meeting at Chequers, they had their phones and smart watches taken off them as they entered, so no tweeting the death match going on inside. And if a Minister resigns, they will lose all Ministerial benefits straight away, meaning either walking down the mile long drive to the road and then to the station, or calling a cab.
The plan, as it is, is to rigidly follow the EU's rules, laws and standards, meaning that a trade deal with the US is out of the question, as agri is covered in this, as it would have to to keep the NI/Irish border without infrastructure. This was pretty much the way it was going to pan out, and might have been better for her to have done this two years ago, facing down the Brexiteers.
Tis will tear her party and Government apart, and who knows what the political landscape will look like after the dust settles.
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