​I feel like I’m struggling to grasp the meaning of Brexit. Why would a country give up on 40 years of endeavour in the noble cause of greater European integration, that has bought peace to a warring continent for two generations? Indeed,  I ask why?

But have the people actually detected, after all these years, that the project was flawed and is actually irredeemable? I do not share this belief, but there has certainly been evidence pointing in that direction. 

It seems clear that the EU has collectively chosen to prioritise ‘free movement of labour’ over its other supposed cherished principle of subsidiarity. And it was substantially this that led to the Brexit vote.

The lesson for the UK is that it must retain, in significant degree, its own freedom of operation  (sovereignty). The lesson for EU countries, and for Brussels, is that they must listen more to the real feedback from their peoples, and be willing to change. Just closing ranks and saying ‘blah blah blah, nothing must change ‘ is a recipe for ultimate failure. 

So we all await the next stage of this drama, more gripping than any box set.