Statements like that don't really bother me at this stage, as there is an argument that to say something like ''there will be a 2nd ref'' would undermine their already tenuous negotiating position. At the moment it all feels like grandstanding at the eleventh hour, who will blink first. The consensus seems that whatever we end up with will get voted down and we'll end up in a full blown constitutional crisis with the clock still ticking. One under-reported event from last week is that the Gov lost an appeal against a case for the CJEU to rule whether the UK can unilaterally withdraw the A50 notice, thereby not needing the approval of all the EU27, as it currently stands. You'd think that would be a nice insurance to have should things get really sticky, but this Gov is trying to appeal again, this time to the Supreme Court, using 5 QC's, more than they used in the Gina Miller case. If it fails the case will be heard before the CJEU at the end of this month. This was one of the reasons why the Gov has been rushing to get a deal done for a Nov summit before then, but that doesn't look like it will happen now. Instead, it will be mid-Dec, which is good news and weakens the Gov's line that the only options are a bad deal or no deal. It also looks like the Gov will have to publish their Brexit legal advice. For a Gov that proposes Gov ''taking back control'', they have a funny way of showing it...