United front hides big Brexit chasm

As EU leaders continue to cling to safe words and avoid dealing with major issues, Brexit could become one of the longest drawn out break-ups.

Worse still, all the dilly-dallying could result in a no-deal.

As yesterday’s deadline to sign off on entering the next phase of Brexit talks lapsed — something that had been well flagged ahead of the EU summit — both Theresa May and other European politicians came out with the same language.