For three years we remainers have held our breath. This is the moment our dreams may die | Jonathan Freedland
It would be tempting to call this the moment of truth, had truth not been an early casualty of a Brexit saga that was mired in lies and deception from the very start. Even so the Brexit story, which has twisted and tormented this country for the last three and a half years, is at a moment of decision. Outside parliament, hundreds of thousands will gather to make one, possibly last, plea to stay in the European Union. Inside, MPs are due to vote on an agreement that, if it passes, will see us make the break in less than a fortnight – thereby ending British participation in a dream that has animated Europe ever since the final bombs fell in 1945.
Almost everything about this moment deserves either regret or condemnation. Forty months have passed since the referendum, but MPs will have little more than four hours to assess the new withdrawal agreement governing Britain’s departure from the EU. That’s barely time to read it, let alone debate and scrutinise it. To rush through a decision of such gravity is not the action of a country that is serious about its own future.