I've never believed that this parliament, this splintered, achingly balanced parliament could bring Brexit to a satisfactory conclusion.

That isn't because, as some would have you believe, that this parliament and the MPs in it, are useless or feckless. Rather, it is simply that in our adversarial system, a minority government could not deal with the particular gaggle of problems Brexit posed.

Brexit was a crisis, but not quite one obviously grave enough at any given moment to force politicians to sublimate their own individual/party mandates or interests and fuse, as the Second World War did, to deal with an existential issue.

A majority government was therefore needed and one with a clear instruction from the voters, not just on what (Brexit), but how (what Brexit). None of this has been available, for various reasons.


But now, for the first time, an election as a means of resolving the Brexit malaise is a truly credible prescription. Before this moment, the parties' relative confusion over their respective positions meant that any mandate from that election would be too diffuse and refracted to do much good.

No longer. Now, both parties have credible and realistic Brexit prospectuses from which the electorate can choose. The Tories are united behind a common position. That is Boris Johnson's signature political achievement as prime minister and it has been adroitly accomplished.

Image: Boris Johnson has united the Tories behind a common position

Earlier in the year, with the Tories fractured, a manifesto would have been impossible. No longer. They will all will stand for Boris Johnson's deal.

On the other side of the ledger, Labour's position is not nearly as opaque as many commentators would lazily characterise. It is essentially a new referendum in any circumstances. According to the polls, these positions mirror the two basic positions of the electorate - of leaving with a deal, or a new referendum.

The extremes of no-deal and revocation have always been minority pursuits, however, they will be catered for too, in the positions of the Brexit Party and the Lib Dems. We are finally at a stage in the Brexit process where parties have decided. And if the parties have decided for themselves, then it allows voters to properly decide between them.

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And even if no majority can be achieved, the act of the election itself will be cleansing and thus ameliorate the impasse. MPs who have left their parties, or lost their whips, will not likely return. New MPs who take their place are far more likely to agree with their parties' approach. The new blocs in the Commons will act and vote less disparately.

This will make any resolution easier to achieve, even with another minority government. The mandates of the parties and the individual MPs will be renewed and made correlative with the politics of 2019, not of remote 2017. That in itself will be invaluable and will confer legitimacy.

And it is legitimacy which is so desperately needed, it is the tonic for which this tired Brexit debate yearns. Though the government screams "get Brexit done", though they relentlessly remind us of voters' ennui, that boredom is nothing to how voters might feel if Brexit isn't done properly.

Neither the governments of Theresa May nor Boris Johnson have understood (or perhaps wished to understand) that reaching a Brexit settlement is not enough in itself, that the manner of its reaching is at least as important.

If it were reached with a gun to the head (via the threat of no-deal) or rammed down our throats (with improper and truncated parliamentary processes), in other words, if Brexit is perceived to have been obtained improperly, then that will not yield the healing for which Conservative ministers say they crave.

Neither the governments of Theresa May nor Boris Johnson have understood (or perhaps wished to understand) that reaching a Brexit settlement is not enough in itself, that the manner of its reaching is at least as important.

Resentment will just fester for years to come, it will accelerate and intensify the processes by which that settlement might be undone. By contrast, an election now would help legitimise whatever is consented to by the public.

For Remainer opposition MPs, of every stripe, savouring yet another victory this morning, this isn't necessarily a comfortable message. It must be tempting for them to find the green benches on which they're sitting rather comfortable, to believe that the balanced parliamentary maths aids their cause, that they can continue to score victories from where they are, to eventually humiliate the prime minister out of office.

They worry that an election risks this perfect position. When they have the PM over a barrel, why risk it?

But the bigger risk is staying where they are. The prime minister has a deal. That deal, with nothing else on offer, will exert a bigger and bigger political pull. A tranche of Labour MPs, with little else to vote for, with nothing to say to their voters save further delay without purpose will, whether they like it or not (often not), be sucked in by its gravity.

In the end, after every parliamentary manoeuvre has been exhausted and they can justify deferral no more, it will probably get passed, after weeks and months more of yet more repetitive and damaging parliamentary trench warfare.

They risk, in a year or generation's time, of having to answer why they didn't take the chance to stop Brexit with an election when they could. Once an extension is granted, there will be no excuse left.

As for those Remainer MPs holding out for a referendum, they should wake up: it isn't going to happen in this parliament and even if the numbers could magically be found, it would be totally unreasonable and impractical to expect this government to oversee it.

But beyond any other political considerations, frankly, it's the right thing to do. This government has no majority. It cannot legislate on anything. The public deserve their say, and a swift resolution to this crisis, or at the very least a firm new direction.

At this stage an election, rather than any other alternative, offers that chance best. A festive poll might not be an ideal Christmas present for many, but at least it might give Westminster the opportunity to end the drift in the New Year. Not a bad resolution, if you ask me.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Hannah Thomas-Peter - Rising social stigma around flying is misplaced