Theresa May opts for a hard Brexit

HALF a year after choosing Brexit, Britons have learned what they voted for. The single-word result of June’s referendum—“Leave”—followed a campaign boasting copious (incompatible) benefits: taking back control of immigration, ending payments into the European Union budget, rolling back foreign courts’ jurisdiction and trading with the continent as freely as ever. On January 17th Theresa May at last acknowledged that leaving the EU would involve trade-offs, and indicated some of the choices she would make. She will pursue a “hard Brexit” (rebranded “clean” by its advocates), taking Britain out of the EU’s single market in order to reclaim control of immigration and shake off the authority of the EU’s judges.