Stephen Collins: We need to realise Tories will do Brexit the hard way
Conservative Party conference justified ‘the stupid party’ tag coined in Victorian times
British prime minister Theresa May (left) at the European Summit in Brussels: she believes the 27 remaining EU states have as much to lose as the UK from its exit. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA
The time has come for Irish policy makers to stop dreaming of a soft Brexit and prepare for the reality that the United Kingdom is likely to crash out of the European Union in the ugliest possible fashion.
The biggest threat to Ireland’s national interest at this stage is not that the UK is going to leave the EU but a perception across Europe that this country is too closely allied to the British.