What the papers say: May’s Brexit Britain is a fantasy island

Theresa May’s Brexit statement in the Commons yesterday ‘told us a great deal about what has happened already,’ says the Daily Telegraph. But the detail on ‘what happens next’ was thin on the ground. Once again, the PM ‘reaffirmed that the UK is leaving the EU on March 29, 2019’. Yet this told us little we didn’t already know when Article 50 was triggered six months ago. ‘The question now to be resolved is not whether we are leaving but on what basis,’ says the Telegraph. So what does Britain actually want from Brexit? The PM said, not for the first time, that the aim was to secure a “bespoke and ambitious” trade deal’ between the UK and the EU. While a few weeks ago there was question marks over whether May would make it to Christmas and be able to achieve this ambition, the PM now looks to have the ‘perseverance and dogged commitment’ that will be needed to thrash out a deal with Brussels.