If the Tories allow Britain to sleepwalk back into the bosom of Brussels, they will be out of sorts, out of order and out of power, says Mark Dolan

Why is Brexit important? Because people voted for it. That's how democracy works. How shocking therefore, that a conservative government that delivered the will of the people, and got Brexit done, should be the ones to potentially reverse it.

The Sunday Times report that senior government figures are planning to put Britain on the path towards a Swiss-style relationship with the European Union.

Switzerland has access to the European single market through a series of bilateral agreements. However, the model also involves more liberal EU migration, and payments to the EU budget, with the bloc in recent years also pushing for the European Court of Justice to have greater oversight in the relationship.

The Swiss have frequently debated restricting free movement from the bloc, but in the most recent referendum opted to keep it. Far be it for me to raise the alarm about what looks to be a subtle and insidious attempt to get us back into the block by using Snake oil language of unfettered access and frictionless trade.

The Godfather of Brexit himself, the man who really moved the dial in those negotiations with Brussels, Lord David Frost is not having it. Last night he said: “Any approach requiring the UK to align with EU rules to get trade benefits, whether as part of a Swiss-style approach or any other, would be quite unacceptable.

Boris Johnson and I fought very hard to avoid any such requirements in 2020 and ensure the UK could set its own laws, and we should not contemplate giving this away in the future.”

Unlike many Remainers in 2016, I instantly accepted the result, as any democrat should, do and it seems I've got a better idea of how Brexit works than many Brexiteers, including the prime minister Rishi Sunak, who appears to be wobbling on this issue. He needs to give his head a wobble.

If the PM reverses Brexit by stealth in this way, the Tories won't just be out of power for a generation, they will be finished altogether.

Rishi Sunak reversing Brexit by stealth would see them out of power, says Mark Dolan.
Leon Neal

Sunak will be sunk. Rishi will be swimming with the fishies. The whole point of Brexit, is you go hard or you go home. It's all or nothing.

Brexit is about control of our money, our borders, our courts and our trade. You can't have a half Brexit, in the same way you can't be half pregnant or half drunk.

If we're going to do Brexit, it’s got to be the whole thing. The Big Kahuna, the full English, a full fat, red blooded, carnivorous Brexit. Not Brexit in name only, which makes a mug of anyone that voted for it and which dilutes the colossal opportunities it offers.

I've been willing to tolerate Thursday’s particularly unconservative budget, which will deepen the recession, in the hope that tough economic medicine is being administered now, in order to facilitate tax cuts and a more competitive economy, in the medium to long-term.

I know many Conservative supporters hated the autumn statement and feel it could've come from the pen of Keir Starmer.

But fiscal prudence is enough of a selling point, to keep me on board at this stage. But I'm not having a Brexit U-turn.

Because this is about the only thing the Tories can hang on to, as their support collapses across the country. They were,at least, the party to get us out.

But if they renege on this, and allow Britain to sleepwalk back into the bosom of Brussels, they will be out too. Out of sorts, out of order and out of power. EU turn if you want to, this presenter’s not for turning.