THE mocking tone of the Remainers continues unabated.
None of us knew what we were voting for, is the common refrain.
We did, and constituents who want out have consistently told me so.
To me, and to them, it’s all about being in control of our destiny, policing our own borders, retaining the pound and ensuring that those we elect are answerable to us.
So EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s recent call for a 21-month transition period, where we remain in the EU in all but name, is totally unacceptable to me.
Naturally, it’s to our disadvantage and forbids us from making external trade deals until December 2020, and that’s just one of the demands.
He also expects us to continue paying into the EU budget, to accept existing and new EU laws and allowing freedom of movement for EU citizens to carry on.
Where we have vital interests at stake, such as fishing quotas, we might be permitted to air them on an ‘exceptional’ basis.
In exchange, we will be allowed, temporarily, to remain in the single market.
I am not sure what part of the word ‘leave’ Mr Barnier and his team fail to understand.
The tactic, to wear a recalcitrant country down until it breaks and comes crawling back to the fold, is not unknown.
But, as my friend and colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg put it, their demands are not so much crossing a bridge as walking the plank.
Lest we forget, this country is the fifth largest trading nation on earth and of great value to the EU.
Supplicants in these negotiations we are not; a soon-to-be sovereign nation, with everything to play for, we are.