Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

ALEX BELL: What if Nicola Sturgeon supported Theresa May’s Brexit deal?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

A bit like the Kardashian phenomenon, you know you are meant to care about Brexit, but struggle to find the energy.

Much as the words of the Kardashian’s – big bum, transgender, Instagram – can be rearranged into any order to form a story, so too the Brexit words – Boris, Mogg, DUP, chaos and May – can be randomly connected to make any article of the last two-and-half years.

Clearly, the ideal story would be if a Kardashian offered an opinion on Brexit, then we could all retire having “solved” the news.

However, struggle on we must – not with the Kardashians obviously, we have some standards.

Tory rebels think they can get a better Brexit deal, while Nicola Sturgeon thinks she can improve it too, as does Labour.

The resistance is clearly sincere on one level.

Everyone has different ideas about what Brexit should be – and the deal meets very little of these.

We don’t want politicians who simply give up and go along with things because they are tired or bored.

If Sturgeon, Jeremy Corbyn, or whoever, think they can play the game of politics such that they can change things, they are obliged to do so.

Yet, there is the smack of am-dram about this.

A whiff of the Nativity play where nobody got cast as Mary, and they are making the best of being third palm tree.

The EU clearly think they have made concessions and have stated that’s it – take it or leave it.

Europe is under no obligation to please us, and we are free to walk away without paying a penny or signing up to a word.

There is, then, no incentive for the EU to see this as a drama that involves them.

Instead, it is what it is, a bad decision by Britain which the Brits must come to terms with.

This idea that our confusion is somehow gripping Europe is like the bird that sits on a crocodile’s tooth imagining it controls the jaw.

Labour’s position is confused, but Corbyn wants an election – why, who knows, as the latest polling suggests he’s set to lose seats in Scotland, but there you go.

Sturgeon does not want an election, but her position is also questionable.

The First Minister thinks she can muster a coalition of the opposition to either improve the terms or hold a second referendum – yet can point to no evidence that the EU would renegotiate, or any substance for the people’s vote mechanism.

She says SNP MPs will vote against the deal because a better agreement is possible and she wants Scotland to enjoy the same privileges as Northern Ireland in relation to the EU.

She set out demanding that Brexit should not take the UK out of the customs union and single market.

Theresa May’s deal may fall short of that demand as an absolute, but it is pretty close.

The transition deal would keep us as close to Europe as is possible while still satisfying the notion of Brexit.

What’s more, if the invitation to extend the transition to 2022 or beyond is taken up, then Scotland would still be “in” much of the EU by the time of any second indy referendum.

For Nationalists, this is important.

An Indy Scotland would have to leave the EU and re-enter, but that seems a lot easier to achieve if it hasn’t yet properly left as part of the UK.

A Scotland that signalled it understood the pragmatism of the moment, understood that the EU was trying to help, but despaired at the pickiness of British politicians, might put Edinburgh in a more constructive light if it were seen to support this current compromise.

What doesn’t make Scotland look constructive is to compare itself with Northern Ireland.

Our first and fantastically unsuccessful colony, Northern Ireland is Scotland’s shame.

We came, we picked a fight, and we didn’t let go.

To start claiming that we should be treated the same is disingenuous.

There is a very obvious geographical reason why Northern Ireland is different – a land border with the EU – and an equally unambiguous sociopolitical reason to do with religion and history.

What if the SNP said it would support the May deal in return for greater assurance and protection over the return of powers to Edinburgh post Brexit? That would honour the democratic will of the 2016 referendum, for a Brexit.

It would signal to Brussels that Scotland isn’t just another Brexit in waiting – another shambles of nit-picking and awkwardness when it came to rejoining the EU post independence.

It would give the SNP some leverage with Theresa May.

It would make the Tories look even more like snakes in a sack.

What is more, it would settle the terms for Scots farmers, business people and citizens, in so far as we would enter a transition, and avoid a no-deal exit.

Sturgeon rejects this framing – May’s deal or no deal – but until she can point to an alternative of substance, that’s exactly where we stand.