It is hard to overstate the magnitude of what happened in Cabinet today – because the prime minister and her senior ministers concluded over a record-breaking seven-and-a-half hours that Brexit was too hard for them to deliver on their own and they would now seek to enlist Jeremy Corbyn and Labour in finding a solution.
‘There was a very significant shift to a softer Brexit,’ said a senior minister.
‘There is no turning back’.
And there you have captured the magnitude of the risk the PM is taking.
First, she is hoping Corbyn will negotiate in good faith – which may well be the triumph of hope over experience since he can legitimately query why she didn’t offer proper cross-party negotiations months ago. That said, Labour’s leader said tonight he was “pleased” the PM was now “prepared to reach out”.
Second, May needs a majority of MPs to either vote for a compromise she agrees with Labour’s leader, or – if that were not to happen – for them to choose a way forward from a series of options presented to them, which again runs counter to what has happened in all votes during the recent so-called Letwin process.
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