Labour's attempts to differentiate their position on Brexit and specifically

[Monty92]

I don't think abandoning or reversing Brexit is a realistic option anymore. Even 'softening' it is going to prove very, very tricky. And even if that did happen, what then? You'd still have half the country utterly seething with resentment at being cheated in this way and, as May is currently finding out, such a divided country is fùcking hard to govern. Long term, the only possible resolution is in Brexit taking place in whatever form and everyone getting used to it.

I'm dubious about whether half the country would be utterly seething with resentment. Certainly there would be many voters and, crucially, many Tory MPs, who would feel this way. But I suspect an equal number would be rather indifferent, for a number of reasons, but mainly because - as we both acknowledge - Brexit was a protest vote as much as anything, driven by a desire to give the establishment a bloody nose rather than a desire for the tangible outcome and its consequences (unknown as many of them may be).

[Burney]

I'm dubious about whether half the country would be utterly seething with resentment. Certainly there would be many voters and, crucially, many Tory MPs, who would feel this way. But I suspect an equal number would be rather indifferent, for a number of reasons, but mainly because - as we both acknowledge - Brexit was a protest vote as much as anything, driven by a desire to give the establishment a bloody nose rather than a desire for the tangible outcome and its consequences (unknown as many of them may be).

Something can be two things at once. It was a protest vote in one sense, but it also was the expression of a long-held and deeply felt dislike of the EU that has existed in this country for decades. At its most basic level, that may simply be expressed as a profound dislike of being governed by foreigners, but it's still there. For many, that hatred has only become greater over the last year and will get worse during negotiations. So the idea that anti-EU sentiment will somehow dissipate over the coming years seems naive to me.