絳

beckons-示意, 召唤

Many choices, little time to agree

For Brexit, 2018 will be the crunch year.

The procedure for leaving the European Union sets a two-year deadline from the day Theresa May triggered Article 50 last March.

a deal on the divorce terms must be agreed on by the autumn of 2018

The shortage of time will make the early months of 2018 especially fraught(担心的，忧虑的；充满…的). 

reached an understanding over roughly how much

negotiations on the future relations between Britain and the EU will barely have started.

a cliff-edge Brexit

A first conclusion is that there must be early discussion of

The only one on offer will be based on

must accept the obligations of

Even that will be hard to agree on.

will not want to build a bridge until it knows where it is going

be suspicious of

keep Britain in the club longer.

must leave the single market

co-operation on external and domestic security.

Yet the EU is clear that Britain cannot be better off than it was as a full member. 

experience suggests that an agreement will take years to reach—and even longer to ratify

The tortuousness of the negotiations will create two more big headaches for sb

make life hell for an already fragile government.

the sheer(完全的; 十足的) complexity of

no deal is better than a bad deal

Brexit and its outcome will also be decisive for the future of Mrs May herself. 

regain credibility

The biggest obstacles to this scenario and to a smooth Brexit are growing fears over the economy, which slowed markedly in late 2017 even as other European economies picked up speed.

fatally undermine

no matter how skilfully she manages to deliver xxx