I am holding out hope for the amendments, it's the only chance both sides get a say in how the negotiating can be shaped. The idea of a fixed leaving date is utterly idiotic; even the most inexperienced businessperson knows full well that fixing a date like this will lead to unwanted compromise and the sort of pressure that can lead to mistakes. I'm not against deadlines as such (I work to hard deadlines myself all the time) as they can concentrate the mind wonderfully, but they also take away any flexibility and if you don't need to have one, there's no good reason to impose one, unless it's to placate your own back benchers.