WILL BREXIT EVER HAPPEN ?

While far too many of our political masters continue to either try to frustrate Brexit or to use it for their own purposes, Theresa May is supposedly working on a new plan to take to the House of Commons tomorrow. What she will propose is anyone's guess but, with the European Union continuing to be obstructive, it's unlikely to be something that will gain favour with those who simply want Brexit to happen.

While Brexiteers have a number of issues with Mrs May's original plan, the most critical 'sticking point' must surely be the so-called "Irish Backstop". My question is, "Why is it there at all ?"

Clearly the British government doesn't want this blatantly political arrangement to be included in the agreement and, reportedly, neither does the European Union. It's said that the EU has an assortment of concerns about it and sees it as being unwelcome and potentially damaging to its own best interests; and yet it was the EU which insisted on including it at the insistence, of course, of the Republic of Ireland.

The Republic is a tiny country in population as well as in economic terms and yet it is wagging the dog's tail to the benefit of no one but itself, and even that is debatable. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Republic will almost suffer more than anyone else due to its close economic ties to the UK. Sadly, this seems to be of no relevance to the Irish leader, Leo Varadkar, who appears hell bent on using the border issue as a lever in the century old battle to reunite the 2 parts of the island of Ireland.

Potential solutions to the border issue have been put forward but none has found favour with the EU - why ? If the EU really doesn't want to ever have to implement the 'backstop', why are they not being far more willing to remove this impediment from the withdrawal agreement ? The only realistic answer is that they're using it as a means of frustrating the whole Brexit process.

Conservative Brexiteers will not agree to any deal which includes the 'backstop' and Conservative Remainers will not agree to any deal which sees the UK move more than the tiniest distance from the EU. Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon are also using Brexit for their own political purposes and gaining Parliamentary approval for any arrangement seems impossible.  

What on earth will happen next ?