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"Threatening to walk away if you don’t get a good deal is a standard negotiating tactic, but if the threat is empty you look a bit foolish," says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. "Everyone knows she is not an ultraliberal," he says, adding it is inconceivable that parliament would vote for big cuts to environmental, employment or social laws.

Men selv det sidste er ikke entydigt, mener seniorforsker Sophia Besch fra den proeuropæiske tænketank Centre for European Reform (Centre for European Reform) i London. ”Briterne har sagt helt klart, at de ikke længere vil følge EU-Domstolen, og at de vil hente kontrollen tilbage til Storbritannien,” siger hun. Mens Theresa May er klar i mælet, når det gælder, hvad briterne ikke vil, efterlyser Sophia Besch meldinger om, hvad briterne er klar til give. ”Briterne er nødt til at give køb på noget, men hun har ikke løftet sløret og holder kortene meget tæt til kroppen,” mener Sophia Besch.

As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform put it, “governments and businesses in many parts of the world will understand the essence of May’s Brexit strategy to be this: what matters is limiting free movement of labour and the rulings of foreign courts, and the price to be paid – the result of lower levels of trade and investment with the EU – of slower economic growth, is too bad.”

"Wystąpienie May potwierdziło wiele oczekiwań ekspertów, ale europejscy partnerzy docenią, że brytyjski rząd wreszcie przedstawił zarys swojego planu" - oceniła w rozmowie z PAP analityczka z londyńskiego think tanku Centre for European Reform (CER) Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska.

Rem Korteweg, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), believes that there is an 80 per cent chance that the Mr Wilders will win. He said: “We have to take the polls with a grain of salt, but Wilder has really been able to create a significant lead over the past two months.” 

“There’s no doubt that economic activity has held up better than most economists thought,” Simon Tilford, of the pro-EU Centre for European Reform think-tank, conceded. Mr Tilford notes that not all pro-EU economists missed the mark, and - like many - remains convinced that the Brexit pain will eventually arrive. But he worries that the smooth sailing in the meantime could create a false sense of confidence and shift public support toward a more extreme form of EU exit.“The fact that growth has held up over the last six months is a negative because it’s emboldened the Eurosceptics and those who think that the UK can flourish outside the single market,” he explained.