Over the past month MPs have been obsessed with the prime minister’s plan for a future trading relationship with the European Union, agreed with her cabinet at Chequers. Some back her, some believe that her proposed system for trade would submit the UK to permanent vassalage, and some fear that it would precipitate terminal economic decline. Those are just the factions within the Conservative Party.

In reality, Brexit talks are not snagged on trade, which is likely to be settled after Britain has left the EU in March next year anyway. They are snagged on the question of how to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Anyone who advocates any kind of Brexit plan needs a solution to this