Theresa May travelled to one of the most beautiful renaissance cities on earth to deliver her Brexit speech against a drab backdrop in a municipal building. The prime minister told the audience that she was giving a speech about her optimism and vision: in reality it was more about grinding painful compromise to ensure that nothing changes for three and a half years.

The speech achieved one big goal: laying out her vision for an EU-friendly transition phase that will keep Britain bound by EU regulations and free movement rules and require continued payments until 2021. This was an unambiguous win for Philip Hammond, the chancellor, who has preached an “off the shelf” deal since the start of the summer.

However she gave little clarity