Forget the Brexit challenges, look at the longer term - High Commissioner

With five weeks to go until Brexit, Theresa May still shuttling to Brussels, and MPs from both Labour and Conservatives abandoning their parties, it is perhaps not easy to look at the future with confidence.

But British High Commissioner Stuart Gill told the Times of Malta that in spite of the short-term challenges, he is confident that the outcome will be a positive one once the dust has settled.

Viewed from outside the UK, it is not always easy to understand why there is so much resistance to the deal hammered out last autumn, let alone to why a second referendum has been ruled out and what would happen if the UK left with no deal. One question at least seems to have dissipated over the past weeks: whether there will be a Brexit at all.

Mr Gill goes through various aspects of the scenarios, explaining what could and could not happen at each twist and turn – but also what the long-term outcome should be.

However, his ultimate message was a positive one: “Our friends in Europe are going to remain our friends in Europe. We work through Nato, the UN and the Commonwealth. And that is a pretty powerful network of alliances and friends, among people with whom we share values and...