Theresa May's 'no deal is better than a bad deal' slogan is meaningless.

Prime Minister Theresa May's mantra for Brexit negotiations has been, thus far, that "no deal is better than a bad deal".

She argued in a speech today that a bad Brexit is a threat to public finances and jobs.

She has a point, in that if the EU came over all Dr Evil and ask for 100 billion dollars, offering nothing in return, it would probably be a bad deal.

However, in practicality, these countries are our closest neighbours and our future trade with these countries is important to our economy.

So now Theresa May has shifted the debate to what sort of deal is good or bad or nonexistent, and which leaders have set limits at which point they'll walk away and all sorts of other hypotheticals.

The EU has already outlined the negotiation deck available to it and the likely process, and stated EU representatives will protect member states' interests, rather than plot against Britain.

Either way, you can expect a tough negotiation awaits Britain's representatives.

If we walk away we have to accept World Trade Organization (WTO) terms. Countries who trade on these terms can encounter tariffs on UK goods, as opposed to favoured nation terms that can offer concessions.

There is an interest on the EU's side of generating a deal that works for both parties. Their worst deal will in all likelihood be better than WTO terms.

Theresa's soundbite (of which there are far too many) is essentially a meaningless attempt to threaten to walk away from the table, that both sides know isn't in her interest.

It's a platitude for claps, like saying "No prime minister is better than a bad prime minister".

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