I am no fan of Theresa May.
I believe any politician who advocates the abolition of
any human rights
shouldn't even be trusted let alone be in power
so why anybody would vote and support Theresa May
beats me
Having said that I do think Theresa May, in Florence,
made the only speech that she could have made.
She needed to play to the gallery of her Brexiteer backbenchers
and at the same time
offer something to the remainers and those in the EU.
The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.
The UK will honour commitments we have made
during the period of our membership.
so she walked this fine line
but she did so by being quite vague
and quite contradictory.
There was, in my opinion, an awful lot of emotional blackmail in her speech.
She kept on talking about
the need to be creative and ambitious
and implying that the EU was not being so
and that because of this stance taken by the EU
that history would not look favourably upon them
but as we know, history is written by the winners
and that particular accolade is not going to the United Kingdom
certainly at present
that was very clearly indicated when
Theresa May was asked question about the amount of concessions
that the EU has made to the United Kingdom
Can you point to a single concession from the EU
that your negotiating strategy has won for you?
Well I can say that during the ne-
Yes! During the negotiations we've got at the moment,
there are a number of issues where we've set a position paper forward
to the EU and we now have agreement on a variety of the issues that we're looking at.
She didn't give a clear example
because there is no example to give.
She also spoke an awful lot about
partnerships between the EU and the UK
suggesting that they walk shoulder-to-shoulder
arm-in-arm as if they are two equal partners
but again,
these Brexit, negotiations have made it perfectly clear
that the EU is the one dictating terms
and again that question that came in a speech
made that fact perfectly clear.
About Ireland, she said nothing,
because there is nothing to say about Ireland.
The decision about Ireland has already been made.
Ireland and the EU have made it perfectly clear
that there is to be no border
so now it is up to the United Kingdom
to be creative and ambitious
in order to make a border
that can't be a border.
When the Italian journalist Monia Venturini, asked
her about the rights of the Italian citizens living in the UK
she gave a very clear statement.
We want them to be able to stay and to have the same rights as they have at the moment.
...to ensure that you can carry on living your lives as before.
However, earlier in the speech
she had made it clear that
after 2019, EU citizens would be required to register
so clearly that is not the same.
As for the two-year period that seems to be
the general narrative in the UK press,
it's worth pointing out that she never actually says 'two years'.
At one point in the speech
she talks about how the process should take as long as it needs.
How long the period is should be determined simply
by how long it will take to prepare and implement the new processes and new systems
that will underpin that future partnership.
and then when she gives some indication as to what that period of time could be
she says it's approximately two years.
As of today, these considerations point to an implementation period of around two years.
The implementation period that she talks of
can only work
if we know what we are actually implementing.
it's true that we do have until March 2019
to make that decision and then if we are given a period of time after that
we can implement what we have decided
but if we don't have that clear,
then it's not an implementation period we have,
it's a transition period
and surely even the most ardent Brexiteer
must admit that it is far better
to spend that transition period
inside the EU as a full member
so that we are still on the council, we still have MEPs,
we can still make a say in how the EU is being run
particularly with things like
the development of the EU Army and
the five-point proposal that is now on the table
so what does all of this mean?
As I sit here on my balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean,
can I hear the death knell of Brexit in the distance?
I'm not sure.
maybe
but one thing is certain
is that Theresa May's speech
has caused one hell of a ding-dong.
When we come together
in a spirit of ambition and innovation
we have it within ourselves to do great things.