There are but weeks remaining for the United Kingdom government and the other 27 members of the European Union (EU) to reach an agreement on the terms for Britain’s exit from the political and economic block — Brexit. On Wednesday evening, British Prime Minister Theresa May had an opportunity to address her EU counterparts in a pitch aimed at finding some sort of mutual ground that may form the basis of an agreement lest Britain is to crash out of the bloc on March 29 without a deal.

Certainly, it appears as if the border between the British-governed province of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to the south remains a key issue, with both sides committed to ensuring that it remains free of customs and security checks that may imperil the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 — an accord that ended more than three decades of sectarian and political violence in the province.

May is basing her negotiations on her Chequers plan, a blueprint thrashed out at her official country residence in July. That envisages the United Kingdom being able to control the working and residency rights of non-British passport holders, a tenet that runs counter to the EU’s four key and founding principles of freedom of movement, freedom of trade, freedom of services and freedom of goods. At the same time, Britain is seeking to keep all the other benefits of being inside the EU while being outside its rules and regulations.

As far as Brussels and the EU27 are concerned, Britain wants to cherry-pick the benefits of membership without accepting the responsibility of membership. Besides, they say, if they give ground now, other nations may seek to leave the EU and want to cherry-pick conditions, undermining five decades of European economic and political unity.

May too faces the prospect that indeed if she does manage to salvage a Brexit deal at the last moment, she may not be able to get it through her bitterly divided parliament. One-quarter of her own Conservative Party rejects the Chequers plan in principle, the opposition Labour party is divided on what Brexit means and indeed if there should be a second referendum, while her government is dependent on the support of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) from Northern Ireland to rule.

The DUP opposes any concessions that would give the province special status apart from England, Scotland or Wales. The reality is that the May government has little room to manoeuvre and little time to find consensus.

There is a special summit planned for mid-November to try and arrive at a Brexit deal.

Right now, things are not looking hopeful. It’s not because the goodwill doesn’t exist for a deal, but more because Britons themselves are so divided.