Europe sees Brexit as nothing short of heresy

The EU is trying to force Britain to atone for its great betrayal, but we should not punish them: we have too much to lose

Leo Varadkar should advocate a new dispensation Pic: rollingNews.ie

Four hundred and eighty three years after Henry VIII broke from Rome, Theresa May went last month to Italy in a gesture of conciliation. On Thursday, she was rebuffed. At root, again, is a dispute over doctrine.

In Florence, May spoke of the British people’s “decision to leave the institution of the European Union”. In that deceptively simple phrase, she exposed the schism between Britain and the EU.

For Brussels, and many European ...