Now It’s Parliament’s Turn to Lead Brexit Delusions

Given her countless errors in supervising Brexit, sympathy for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is out of the question. Even so, Parliament’s pointless move this week to take control confirms she’s not alone in preferring an alternative reality. When it comes to Brexit, there’s plenty of delusion to go around.

MPs voted to take charge of the parliamentary timetable and hold nonbinding votes on various Brexit options. These are likely to run the gamut from exiting without a withdrawal agreement through halting Brexit altogether by revoking the Article 50 exit notice. In between these extremes, in increasing order of softness, are various intermediate options: a conventional free-trade deal; the withdrawal agreement negotiated by May (which the Commons has already rejected twice, by enormous margins); May’s deal plus a permanent customs union; May’s deal plus a permanent customs union and membership of the European Union’s single market; and a second referendum together with a fundamental rethink of the whole affair.