Well, that was predictable. Yesterday Teresa May sent her formal letter to the EU invoking article 50. Apart from flowery words it also contained threats. May tried to play hardball, threatening the EU that Britain would be less co-operative on security issues if May didn’t get simultaneous talks on the exit settlement and new trade arrangements. Needless to say, the threat  impressed no-one. Within a few hours she’d got a ‘Nein’ from Angela Merkel and ‘Non’ from François Hollande which exposed just how hollow and stupid the Brexit slogan of ‘take back control’ really was. We’ve not taken control, we’ve thrown it away. Now the negotiations start in earnest and it’s becoming painfully obvious who holds all the cards – and it ain’t us – although (with typical English arrogance), Brexit fans think it is. When the truth can no longer be blocked out, it’s going to hit some people very hard.

This was all so predictable. But would the Quitlings listen?  We are in for some very, very difficult times in the next two years.

The Guardian newspaper has taken the time to do what Brexit fans never do – listen to what Europe thinks. Here’s the view from various newspapers in EU countries. It makes interesting but depressing reading.

Parliaments craven cowardice by caving in the ‘will of the people’ (well the 37% of all voters who were allowed to and voted to leave the EU) without securing the rights of EU citizens who’re residing in the UK is one of the most shameful chapters in recent political history. It’s created millions of hostages. EU citizens whom have had the right to live, work and settle in the UK for 40 years now face years of uncertainty – and growing levels of intolerance and abuse. How the hell have we come to this?

The UK calls itself a thriving democracy, yet it sinks to depths of political cowardice and cynicism where it’s Government in prepared to use people who’ve contributed to its success for decades as human bargaining chips. If this wasn’t bad enough, what happens to them if (as is looking increasingly likely) we crash out of the EU in ‘hard Brexit’?

The UKs reputation for tolerance and fairness (all those attributes Brexit fans love to boast about) is in tatters, frankly. Many EU citizen are leaving, or planning to leave, leaving us poorer culturally and financially. We will find them hard to replace. After all, why would anyone come to a country that’s clearly and very publically thrown away the welcome mat as it sinks more and more into isolationism, xenophobia and downright fantasy?

Meanwhile, the hard political realities that the Remain campaign warned about but were labelled ‘project fear’ by the Leave campaign are coming home to roost. The break-up of the union is looking increasingly likely. The Scots are looking at a second independence referendum. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein have called for a referendum on joining Eire. The Irish border problem is one Quitters  have resolutely refused to deal with, preferring to stick their heads in the sand rather than tackle it. It’s a timebomb that won’t go away.

More and more we seem to be living in a political fantasy world. We always said Breixiters didn’t have a plan. They never had. All the promises of what wouldn’t happen, all the claims that we’d still have access to the single market et al were hollow. Now, the ‘plan’ seems to be to crash out of the EU, and blame the EU for it! It’s the political equivalent of ‘a big boy did it and ran away’.

The old World War 1 adage needs to be updated for the modern age. Now we’re donkeys led by donkeys.

The bedrock of the Brexit campaign is the myth that the EU is “undemocratic”, so to “get our country back” (a nonsense phrase if ever there was one) we have to leave the EU. The lynch-pin of their argument is that European Commissioners aren’t elected – ergo the EU is ‘undemocratic’.

This argument falls for a whole host of reasons. Firstly, the European Commission is the equivalent of the British Civil Service. Have you ever voted for a civil servant? Of course not. We elect the people who direct the Civil Servants and the EU is exactly the same. Here’s a diagram of how EU democracy and oversight works.

As you can see, no legislation can become law unless the elected MEPs agree. If they don’t the legislation is sent back to the commission where it’s either redrafted in the light of MEPs objections or it’s binned. The Commission cannot pass laws themselves. So, there’s genuine democratic oversight.

There’s another thing. Brexiteers are either incredibly ignorant of how Parliamentary democracy works in the UK, or they’re deliberately ignoring it. Here’s why. Have you ever heard of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury? Or the 2nd Earl of Liverpool? As they’ve been dead for years you probably haven’t. OK, let’s try someone more modern. Lord Young? He served in Margaret Thatcher’s government. No? OK, let’s try someone bang up to date. Lord Adonis? He was Transport Minister in the last Labour Government. He’s now head of the Infrastructure Commission.

So, what do they all have in common? None of them were elected. In office they were unelected members of the House of Lords. Not only that but two of them actually served as Prime Ministers! All of them have done the very thing that gives the Brexiteers an attack of the vapours – despite being unelected they were responsible for making laws. Plus, let’s face it, you can’t get more politically powerful in the UK than by becoming Prime Minister.

Nor are these coves unique. You might have heard of another one, he’s one of our most famous Prime Ministers. His name? Benjamin Disraeli.

Oh, another thing. Who invited Disraeli to be Prime Minister and form a Government? None other than Queen Victoria. Now, just who elected her?

The Brexit camp claims that the EU is undemocratic are baseless. In fact, as history shows, by their own definition, the EU is more democratic than the UK!