The moment Theresa May sealed our Brexit fate

Theresa May is in Scotland today which is one way of ascertaining the depth of the hole in which she finds herself. One day, prime ministerial visits to Scotland – or, indeed, to Northern Ireland or Wales – will cease to be considered newsworthy events in their own right. Until such time as they are not rarities, however, they are doomed to be seen as gestures. A whistle-stop tour of the United Kingdom’s northern and western extremities is not enough, no matter how much the Prime Minister might enjoy a day or two away from the Westminster snake-pit.

This visit, like so many others, will be an occasion for saying at least some of the right things but it will not make any meaningful difference to anything that is actually meaningful. We are in a new place now, one in which old certainties seem flimsier than ever. Or, as my colleague Hugo Rifkind, late of this parish, wrote in the Times yesterday: “The core, non-economic argument made against Scottish independence by the likes of me – that Scotland and England were similar nations, full of similar people who wanted similar things – often feels coldly ludicrous now”. As you might imagine, plenty of SNP types loved this. “Should another independence referendum come”, Hugo continued, “and I think it will, I’m not sure what I’ll say. Or what anybody will”.

And, in a sense, he is right. Very few people in Scotland can look at this Westminster show and really think this is as good as it gets. This goes beyond the Prime Minister’s agonies – though those are certainly part of it – and reaches out to include the official opposition too. Jeremy Corbyn is not the answer unless the question is a very, very bad one. There is a disconnect between our political class and the country that, whether you voted Remain or Leave, seems no more bridgeable than the sea between Scotland and Northern Ireland.