A humiliating Brexit deal risks a descent into Weimar Britain | Timothy Garton Ash

The EU must not impose a punitive exit agreement on the UK. The fallout from a resentful nation would be felt throughout the continent

Over the next year or two we could witness the emergence of a rancid, angry Britain: a society riven by domestic divisions and economic difficulties, let down by its ruling classes, fetid with humiliation and resentment. Any such country is a danger both to itself and to its neighbours. This prospect will come closest, fastest, if there is no deal on Brexit and Britain crashes out of the European Union, with what the country’s top civil servant has described as “horrendous consequences”. We have been warned that these could include miles-long queues of lorries at Dover, planes grounded, and the army called in to distribute emergency supplies of food and medicine.

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Related: Eight months to Brexit: what happens next?

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