Brexit: Stick or Twist

UK Government are on their Easter Break which means that we are all enjoying a rest from the relentless B******s know as Brexit. Well apart from the debates surrounding the EU Elections of MEP’s which once again looks like defying the old logic of Turkey’s not voting for Christmas as it is more than likely that the parties that will do the best are the ones that don’t want to be in the UK ….. go figure that one out!

It is also a month now since we have been back in the UK, and while I have certainly been engaged in more Brexit related discussions (a lot of people have assumed we have moved back because of Brexit fears – which is not the case as I have repeatedly stated), I remain a tad bemused about how many people can talk so much about something they know so little about …..

For the record my view at the time of the referendum was that while the UK ‘should’ be in a position to leave the EU and fend for itself, the lack of quality manufacturing, the over reliance on services, and the need for an external workforce to resource this service sector, coupled with the lack of quality leadership to negotiate the new trade deals, meant that I felt then (and still do) that the UK was better off in the EU.

I also remain convinced that the decision I was being asked to make at the time was pretty simple: leave the EU and leap into the unknown as their was zero certaintainty or clarity regarding the future, or remain and keep trying to improve from within.

I did run a few very informal polls amongst friends (real humans) and on social media and without exception those that voted out would rather leave with no deal than with any deal ….. they wanted a clean break, a fresh start, to go it alone.

Talking to people I have had leavers tell me they would now vote remain, and remainers saying they would accept the current deal ‘just to get it over with’, but also I suspect because for remainers a deal is a win. Having lost the referendum and threatened with a hard ‘no deal’ Brexit, any deal that retains a Custom Union is a (small) win for them.

Conversely a ‘deal’ is a loss to the leavers, made worse because the option they voted for (and still want) has all but been taken away from the, as it is pretty obvious that neither the EU of the UK Parliament will allow a No Deal Brexit.

Which of course makes a mockery of those that say a second referendum would be undemocratic when the most undemocratic thing is to prevent the preference of those that voted leave.

What would I do?

Ideal world I would suggest that the decision to leave was suspended and two issues were addressed:

1. It is pretty obvious that we are debating what the definition of Leave is, and this is the one and only thing I hold the EU responsible for in this mess. They have membership pack for joining the EU that they can pull off the shelf for people wanting to join, they needed to have a leaving pack as well. So during the suspension I think the EU alone should produce the terms under which their members leave.
2. The EU should recognise that it’s not only the UK that become concerned/dissatisfied with the power the EU has built for themselves so they should have a proper look at refining their terms to take into account the desire for individual countries to retain sovereignty and control.

At end of this process we would have a refined membership pack and defined leaving terms. UK could then hold a referendum with a defined leave option and a improved remain option which I will always argue is a fair and democratic way forward – the results of the first referendum are honoured for both sides in so much as both views were taken into account and acted upon, not least in ensuring that the second referendum was not open to interpretation or debate.

As we do not live an ideal world I think there is another approach that would be fair (enough). MP’s regularly tell us they represent their constituents, so why not put this to the test? If every MP pledged to put the ‘indicative’ vote options to their constituents, and then to vote in parliament based on these results, we would in effect have a peoples vote on the way forward.

Now I know that agreeing the indicative votes might be a tad problematic but how about we start with No Deal and Remain. We can add in the current May Deal as it does have EU approval and it’s not ‘our’ fault that parliament has allowed May to mess up the negotiating process (which is a different thing than messing up the deal). I would then give each party represented in parliament one day to come up with ‘their’ indicative vote option, because again after three years if they can’t agree on one then that is their issue and they would just have to lose out.

I know, neither option is going to happen, but then again the Easter Bunny isn’t going to appear either …….