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Maybe Bremain is not the best thing after all

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    Maybe Bremain is not the best thing after all

    From http://www.cityam.com/assets/uploads...ae1a333aed.pdf

    As A Dutch Anglophile
    and a committed European,
    my natural sympathies
    lie with those
    currently aiming to preserve
    the ties that bind the UK to
    the European Union.
    What the massive street protests
    and the passionate people’s vote
    campaign make clear is that many
    Brits are as attached to their newlywon
    European rights as they are to
    their old British freedoms.
    If I were in their position, I too
    would use every possible tool at my
    disposal to avoid losing the right to
    live, love, study, and work anywhere
    within the borders of the
    continent of Europe. These are my
    European liberties, and you would
    have to pry them “from my cold,
    dead hands”, as they say.
    Given my sympathies, I suppose
    that it would be logical for me to
    support a second referendum. And
    in fairness, none of the arguments
    given by Brexiteers against the idea
    of another vote make any sense to
    me. They are transparently dishonest,
    motivated by the fear that the
    original Brexit result might be overturned
    a second time around.
    Take, for example, the claim that
    a second referendum would be
    “undemocratic”. Provided that it
    meets a number of basic criteria
    about the wording of the question
    and equal access of both sides to
    voters and the media, a plebiscite
    by its very nature cannot be an affront
    to democracy.
    The second argument against another
    vote is slightly more subtle,
    but no less fallacious: “people have
    already voted”. Well yes they have.

    But only on the general issue of
    Leave versus Remain, not on the actual
    details of the kind of Brexit
    agreed upon by the UK government
    and the EU27.
    It is perfectly legitimate to ask the
    electorate if it really prefers Brexit
    as it would actually work out to the
    current situation.
    The third argument is the Leave
    equivalent of Project Fear: “it
    would be deeply divisive”. Yes, it
    would – but so would not holding
    a second referendum. If there is
    one guarantee, it is that the UK will
    remain bitterly divided about
    Brexit for many years to come.
    “But things would get even
    worse.” Worse than they already
    are? You have family members and
    lifelong friends no longer talking to
    each other this Christmas because
    they “voted the wrong way”, and
    government talk of rationing, of
    troops in the streets, of forcing Ireland
    to its knees, of Scotland
    threatening to secede.
    And that’s if Brexit is implemented.
    Short of actual civil war,
    it’s hard to see how things could
    get worse.
    None of the arguments against
    the staging of a second referendum
    presented by its opponents make
    any sense.
    But that doesn’t mean that it
    would be a good idea. It would, in
    fact, be a really bad idea. Terrible,
    even, if its advocates were victorious
    and Brexit were averted.
    Because the UK staying in the EU
    after everything that has happened
    since 2016 would be nothing short
    of catastrophic.

    This shock about-turn would cre
    ate a permanently aggrieved minority
    of close to 50 per cent of the
    British electorate. This aggrieved
    voting bloc would inevitably be
    served by a virulently anti-EU media
    and openly eurosceptic politicians,
    all fired up with renewed fury that
    Brexit had slipped from their grasp.
    The most effective ones would rise
    to the top of the Conservative party
    – which would be destined to become
    the main vehicle for politically organised euroscepticism – far
    more so than it is already.
    The Tories would duly end up
    electing a series of hardline anti-EU
    leaders. And since the Conservative
    party is still Britain’s natural party
    of government, these leaders
    would inevitably become the UK’s
    Prime Ministers.
    Britain, are you ready for Prime
    Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg?
    The EU certainly isn’t. It has
    plenty of experience dealing with
    awkward members of the European
    Council, but it has never had a
    Prime Minister of a large member
    state openly committed to blowing
    the whole thing up. And it really
    doesn’t want to find out what that
    is like either.
    So to my pro-EU friends in Britain,
    I say this: reject Theresa May’s deal
    if you must, but please don’t
    plunge the EU into the chaos that
    would be the result of continued
    UK membership.
    Why not turn your efforts towards
    urging the government to take the
    next best thing in the form of EEA
    membership? You’d keep all your
    European freedoms, and would stay
    as closely linked to the EU as a nonmember
    state can be.
    And of course you’d be perfectly
    within your rights to fight on,
    under the banner of “Rejoin or die”.
    If you did so, I’d come and march
    with you. Because your future may
    well be in the EU, as part of the European
    family of nations. Just not
    right now. Please
    "Don't part with your illusions; when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live" Mark Twain

    #2
    It's merely a question of what form of Brino the UK would like to have, as much fun as it is to discuss a "managed no deal".

    I'm alright Jack

    Comment


      #3
      I reckon by the time they finished negotiations on a "Managed no deal" if that did happen it will still end up as Brino.

      I'm alright Jack

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by BlasterBates View Post
        It's merely a question of what form of Brino the UK would like to have, as much fun as it is to discuss a "managed no deal".

        "managed no deal" - another set of lies from the Brexit leaders. We either leave with a deal, or leave with no deal. A 'managed deal' is merely a deal FFS. And Leadsom is in cloud cuckoo land if she thinks the EU will let us leave with no deal, but then give us a controlled withdrawal agreement to make it less painful. If there is no deal, they will shaft us good and proper (and who can blame them?)

        MPs need to decide which deal out of those on offer (May, Norway, Canada, WTO/No deal) and just vote one through in Jan. Forget the 2nd ref, forget remaining, just vote for one and lets move on from this mess.

        Us contractors need to know what the leave deal is so that our clients can start to plan their projects and put some decent cash into transformation work that they then need expensive .... sorry, value added .... contractors to manage 2019 is gonna be a boom time for us, let's get this moving now so I can make my bank manager happy
        I am what I drink, and I'm a bitter man

        Comment


          #5
          Managed no-deal is the contingency plans EU have already given details of (certain things will be put in place to handle key areas until at least end of 2019), and UK will do same to ensure some continuation of service, as people and goods will still need to move across borders come next April whatever is agreed or not in the meantime.

          So it's good that government is at least making noises of preparing for no-deal even if it's all part of the ploy to force MPs to support May's deal after the impact of a no-deal starts to dawn on them. It also may force EU to consider changes to the backstop, if May has actually been less nebulous on what exactly UK would like changed.
          Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

          Comment

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