Fans and foes of this week’s agreement between Britain and the European Union have made hugely exaggerated claims about it. Sir Keir Starmer heralded it as historic and the start of a new era. The prime minister’s opponents accused him of betraying Brexit or of killing it altogether. The truth is that the deal sensibly, if modestly, reduces some of the worst trade frictions introduced after Britain’s exit from the club five years ago. And it adds a new pact to work together on rebuilding Europe’s defences, an urgent task given Russian aggression and American equivocation. But this “reset” is neither historic nor an act of betrayal. Brexit remains “hard”.
