Theresa May walked the Brexit tightrope in Manchester today, repeating her threat that the UK would walk away from the negotiating table if the EU offered Britain a bad deal, but steering well clear of the confrontational rhetoric of 2016.

Last year it was a confident Mrs May, still riding high in the polls, who declared that “the authority of EU law in this country [would be] ended forever”. In Brussels, where EU law is the bedrock of trade and the single market, that was seen as hugely hostile statement.

A year later Mrs May has stepped a long way back from that red line, offering to give “direct effect” to the EU withdrawal agreement in UK courts, and indicating that in many areas the UK will need to remain fully cognisant of, and compatible with, EU law.