Predicting the future is a mugs game at the best of times. That can only be more so now in these unprecedented and volatile times. So here I go.
The bill gets royal assent on Monday and becomes law. Johnson goes to the EU council meeting on the 17th and fails to get a deal. He refuses to send the letter requesting an extension as the law of the land will require him to do. Labour then forms a minority government and sends the letter, after Johnson resigns or a vote of no confidence is won. They also tweak the TM deal a bit and the political deceleration more, with a political commitment to seek some form of continued participation in some form of customs union with the EU over the course of the 2 years transition period. They get this deal passed through parliament and we actually finally leave the EU in every legal sense but with the two year transition period to sort out the details and future trading relationship. They then call a GE. They win a majority, on the basis that for 'leavers', although the withdrawal bill is not optimal to maximum leaver demands, they will have delivered on the referendum result, in a matter of a couple months, way more than the Tories managed to do in 3 and half years. For remainers they will be seen as being the architects of saving us from a no deal crash out exit. The extreme leavers will scream and shout but the vast majority of the country will not care. We will be out of the EU. The details of our continued participation in a customs union will be 2 years away at least. The nightmare will be over and no significant majority of the 'people' will have the desire or will to continue it, over us being out of the EU but still in some form of customs union at some indistinct time in the future, apart from a few fanatics. Sterling will gain around 10%, people will be able to plan their holidays without uncertainty. All talk of medicine shortages, food shortages, 80 mile traffic jams at ports, job losses will disappear. Farrage and some others will scream and shout and most of the public will say 'meh'.
GE results
Labour win 320 - 400 seats
Lib Dems win 20 - 40 seats, picking up the hard core remain or nothing section of the vote.
Tories win 140 - 160 seats , getting decimated by the Brexit party that will not do a deal with them based on a 'clean break' exit from the EU, as we will have already left with a deal.
This next part is just the 'remainer' part of me and wishful thinking. One of the things Labour negotiate and agree with the EU in the withdrawal agreement is an option for the UK to rejoin the EU on the same terms as it currently has for up to 10 - 15 years. In their second term they implement this option and we rejoin the EU as full members again and pursue a genuine reform agenda re the EU, starting with passing UK laws that require any and all further moves towards a federal EU state and the reducing of national sovereignty to be subject to consent of the people via referendum.
So there you have it. You heard it here first. Am looking at the odds on Ladbrokes right now.