Theresa May should have backed down in her Brexit battle with Parliament

This morning has brought predictable outrage about Tory ‘traitors’. The Prime Minister has been undermined, Guy Verhofstadt has had his fun describing it as a ‘good day for democracy’. The government has been reduced to damage-limitation, suggesting that last night’s defeat – which means that Parliament will now have the final say on a Brexit deal – won’t derail its plans.

That is true. Allowing Parliament the final judgement on the deal almost certainly won’t alter the outcome: Britain will leave the EU on 29 March 2019 with whatever deal the government is able to cut with Michel Barnier and his team. Parliament will not vote it down because the alternatives will be too horrible to contemplate and could well achieve completely the opposite of what yesterday’s rebels would like. A last minute defeat on a Brexit deal would very likely result in us leaving the EU without a deal – and completely unprepared for that scenario.