because no-one has really set out what vision of Britain they want

we either have a vision where we are close partners with Europe economically, socially and politically, in which case the WA is fine and the least-worse option (but query the point of it all).

Or we have a vision where we are this independent low-tax low-tariff mercantile nation forging our own path in the world, in which case the WA is an absolute disaster as we are tied to the EU and can't do all those wonderful trade deals. But there is a cost to this strategy in that this inevitably leads to concessions on standards and will require a complete re-jig of our economy as we wipe out vast swathes of jobs (in agriculture & manufacturing especially). It would require a rapid upskilling of our labour force and a recognition that some segments of society and regions of the UK are simply going to be left by the wayside and living standards for some will fall.

Neither option is a bad one for UK Plc long-term (and indeed I can see the advantages of the second approach *if* we did it properly) but there is clearly a lot of short to medium term pain involved in the second option that will not be personally felt by the leading proponents of that option.

Of course the other alternative we could play with would be to accept NI as a separately governed part of the UK that can remain aligned with the EU, with the border down the Irish Sea. That's a *big* political decision though as it probably leads to a break up of the UK as we know it. Would be fantastic for NI regeneration though.

Posted By: CWC on September 4th 2019 at 11:53:30

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in