I see you're still holding to the hope that they'll chicken out in the face of a 'no deal'? As I've been saying since the election they'll take the pain of 'no deal' if it forever scares other nations out of contemplating exiting the EU (Italy!). They calculate correctly that 'no deal' will be a magnitude more harmful to the UK economy that to the EU. The Trumpian misunderstanding of trade deficits and surplus's is stunning these days. Folks need to re-read Dornbusch and Fischer! I think Bojo is the one who's more likely to capitulate...
You seem to be forgetting that the EU agreed on a deal once already, and prior to that Tusk and the Brexit office had formed a basic framework of a free trade agreement along the lines of Canada++++. May, on the advice of the Civil Service, chose not to go down this route and went off in her own direction for closer alignment.
Now the hard Brexiteers want no deal. If Johnson doesn't get a deal I think he'll roll with it and a general election will follow. If Johnson capitulates, he's toast, the Tories are toast.
What I'm saying is that the EU won't even consider budging at all until that scenario is probable. Why would they? They'll just watch the Brits fighting like ferrets in a sack. If Johnson happens to be the guy who comes out of the other side, then they have a situation to deal with.
You're saying they won't budge at all. That may be the case. I'm saying Johnson will Brexit if they don't. The likelihood is that they tweak May's deal and do something with the Irish Backstop.
