Fire May, or her zombie deal will come back to haunt us all

The withdrawal agreement is dead.

Like that famous Norwegian Blue parrot of Monty Python legend, it has simply ceased to be.

Its death was not achieved by a humiliating massive vote against it, but, in that cack-handed way only Theresa May manages to finesse, by it never facing a vote at all.

It died through lack of love; only the Prime Minister would not speak ill of it, and to the last offered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She has now flown out to meet the Dutch and German premiers, and then to Brussels to meet the EU Commission in the hope of being given some verbal reassurances that the Irish backstop will either not be used or be time-limited.

The Prime Minister clearly wants to revive the corpse and bring her dead withdrawal agreement back to life.

She then wants to use the time available between now and the new vote, by 21 January, to convince us yet again that it is either her deal, or no deal, or no Brexit, combining the running down of the clock with more outrageous scaremongering about the biblical catastrophes that face Britain if we were to “crash out”.

Sadly, May is still not listening. She still does not get it: even without the backstop, the withdrawal agreement is a very, very bad deal.

This reality is slowly dawning on even the most mild-mannered and previously uncommitted MPs. Only a major rewrite of the agreement would suffice to make it palatable – but that is not what the Prime Minister is seeking, nor is the EU willing to grant such an accommodation.

Let me summarise the seven faults of the withdrawal agreement without even mentioning the backstop.

First, we will hand over between £39bn and £60bn to Brussels without anything in return. The House of Lords established that there is no obligation to pay the EU anything, so payment should be conditional on the EU meeting published commitments.

Second, under article 174, the supremacy of the European Court of Justice is maintained – this cannot be allowed.

Third, during the two-year transition period, Britain must adhere to any new laws which we have had no say in – and this period can be extended further – costing us more money and maintaining this diminished status.

Fourth, the unrestricted immigration of EU nationals will continue for a further two years, with that too being open to extension.

Fifth, regulatory border checks at Calais will remain possible – hardly an improvement on the no-deal option.

Sixth, the acceptance of EU laws and agreements on trade rules and tariffs makes any claims of being able to strike international trade deals absolutely worthless. Correspondingly, the EU can make new trade agreements offering access to our markets, but without any reciprocal right for us to gain access with the new partner.

Finally, the proposed deal on state aid gives the EU new powers to manipulate our economy on issues beyond state subsidy and into taxation, threatening both manufacturing and financial services.

We would be powerless to prevent this, as we will have lost our veto and our votes.

Bringing the withdrawal agreement back from the dead without the backstop is no better than taking the ragged clothes off a zombie. It is still a zombie, stumbling towards us with nothing but malicious intent.

The Prime Minister is being devious beyond belief. She deceived her last two Brexit secretaries; she briefed Angela Merkel before she told her cabinet about the Chequers plan; she put her ministers out to pitch for her deal on Monday morning even though she knew that she was pulling the vote.

She no longer enjoys the trust of her MPs or the people.

There is only one way to put the country onto a new course that has any chance of meeting the democratic decision of the British people and mitigating the possible short-term economic downsides of leaving without a deal.

It is this: replace the Prime Minister, then form a new government committed to preparing for trading under WTO rules.

Then, in the time available, keep talking to the EU to explore how to deliver a mutually beneficial free trade agreement based on the Canada-style deal offered to Great Britain only in March.

It is clear that the Prime Minister cannot see the error of her ways. She is not going to go voluntarily, she is going to carry on flogging her dead horse.

Surely our MPs know what to do in such situations. She must be removed from office before we all go down with her.