Brexit is a tragedy, but there’s much we can do before the final act | Timothy Garton Ash

Negotiations will last well into the 2020s, giving plenty of time for a change in public mood, and direction

This week opened Act III of a five-act drama called Brexit. The play will take at least five years, more likely 10, and only Act V will reveal whether it is a tragedy, a farce, or some very British theatre of muddling-through. The many millions of us in Britain who identify ourselves as Europeans must not give up now, as if the show were over. It’s not, and we’re not just the audience. We are actors in this play and our main task is to persuade our fellow actors.

Act I was the referendum, Act II the run-up to triggering article 50. Act III is the two-year negotiation that, according to the Lisbon treaty, must conclude in spring 2019. Obviously that’s an important moment, but not drama’s end.

Related: May wants security, free trade, liberal values: just what we’re throwing away | Jonathan Freedland

Related: If you think Britain is angry and divided, look at the continent | Timothy Garton Ash

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