Believe it or not, this is the easy part of Brexit: Talks with the EU will get harder from now on

Just remember one thing. This is the easy stage of Brexit.

The Withdrawal Agreement passes by qualified majority voting. It cannot be vetoed by one country taking the accord hostage in pursuit of national goals. (Yes, Ireland has a de facto veto, but this is an EU-27 gesture of political solidarity.)

The future relationship and trade deal requires the support of every country and must be ratified by every national parliament. The Walloon parliament - which single-handedly held up the EU CETA deal with Canada - may stick in its oar.

This is a nightmare waiting to happen. The last-minute objections raised by the Spanish and the French this week are a foretaste of what it is going to be like in 2020.

All that Theresa May’s plan achieves is to postpone the showdown. The battle will be held later on far less favourable terrain. 

Britain will have been in limbo for yet another two years. The public will be fractious and exhausted. The economy will be vulnerable to the corrosive effects of uncertainty and an investment freeze.

We will no longer have the leverage of the £39bn exit payment. The EU will have had more time to disentangle its supply chains and wind down exposure to the UK.