At the risk of being proven wrong by events in the coming 48 hours, it appears that a revised withdrawal agreement and political declaration could find approval by the EU and the UK. A quick glance at the main ingredients of the deal suggests two basic conclusions:
· The Irish backstop has been replaced by a complicated North-Ireland backstop only; yet, on paper, the whole of the UK will leave the EU, the Single Market and the customs union.
· The deal will allow Great Britain to pursue a much harder Brexit; brace for extremely tough trade agreement negotiations. However, this will also cause heavy intra UK tensions with Scotland and North-Ireland.
In any case, this is at best the end of the beginning.
