Nigel Farage, on behalf of the EFDD Group. – Mr President, I don’t think I have ever heard so little criticism of the United Kingdom in this Chamber in all my life, and I guess it doesn’t really take much working out why, does it? Mr Barnier said earlier that there were key areas upon which he wasn’t prepared to make many concessions. Well, you didn’t need to, sir, because you were up against Theresa May, and she was all for making as many concessions as she possibly could, including agreeing a ludicrous bill of up to 40 billion sterling for us to have the right to leave, a continued role for the European Court of Justice and, in line with that, family reunions that mean, frankly, that open-door immigration from the European Union is going to continue for years to come, and – almost bizarrely – a commitment for ongoing regulatory alignment. It is as if, even though we are leaving, effectively the British Government wants to keep us in some form of single market relationship, so I am not surprised that you are all very pleased with her. Theresa the Appeaser has given in on virtually everything.

But as an observation in an exercise of power, it’s fascinating. Whether we like or dislike the European Union, we cannot deny the power that it has got, because you managed to make a British Prime Minister leave Downing Street in the middle of the night and fly to Brussels to forge an agreement with unelected bureaucrats based in Brussels. It’s a form of ritual humiliation, which she was prepared to put herself through. She has danced to your tune all the way through this – you must be very, very pleased indeed.

And now we enter into what perhaps may be the biggest deception yet, played on the British public. She is seeking a transition phase, and there are one or two comments here about whether the Brits will get that phase. Of course they will, because we are volunteering to go on paying the membership fee, to accepting all the existing rules and all the new rules. We will effectively, once transition is granted, have left the European Union at the end of March 2019 in name only, and if that transition phase lasts up until the next general election, there is a real possibility that a new incoming British Government/coalition could sign us up to a single market and the Customs Union forever.

So I do understand why many in this place feel encouraged by the performance of our Prime Minister and, I can assure you, millions who voted for Brexit are increasingly feeling frustrated and perhaps even now moving to the point of anger. It’s the same story across the whole of the West: the aspirations of the people and the aspirations of our political leaders and class are in a very, very different place. I fear Brexit at some point in the future may need to be re—fought all over again.