I was speaking in Brussels yesterday and referred, in error, to the \u2018UK\u2019s member states\u2019. I did, of course, mean to refer to the EU\u2019s member states.<\/p>\n
Then I had to laugh and make clear that I was not suggesting that the UK might shatter soon, although the possibility had to be recognised.<\/p>\n
No one in the room - from a wide variety of member states - was surprised.<\/p>\n
There appears to remain complete bafflement in Brussels on the whole Brexit process.<\/p>\n
And I sense a resigned feeling of inevitability now, knowing that as time passes the likelihood that crashing out with no deal is by now by far the most likely outcome.<\/p>\n
I now believe that to be true.<\/p>\n
I have to admit that somewhere deep inside me the flickers of hope are turning off one by one. I am now beginning to think there is no one and nothing that can stop us from this madness. And that we will pay for it for decades.<\/p>\n
I hope I am wrong. But I can no longer see how or why because nothing else is being agreed upon.<\/p>\n
And nor can I see any upsides. Not for England and Wales, at least.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"