Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Tamas]

The Great Repeal Bill's name is the symbol of how the Leave nationalists are being led by their noses on everything, since the bill is specifically about repealing nothing and lifting all EU regulations into British law until they are changed on a case by case basis.

So I wouldn't worry, Zanza, about that part.

[Zanza]

I very much doubt that a Great Repeal Bill is even feasible. EU directives a riddled with references to other legal documents, treaties, protocols etc. and frequently mention EU institutions, especially regulatory agencies. Have you guys ever looked at one? It's a tedious but fascinating in it's sheer level of detail. It's not just a copy & paste job to transfer that to British law. And a lot of stuff is not applicable for non-members so just pretending it still applies unchanged does not work. They will actually have to go through them one by one unless they just do a really hard Brexit without a comprehensive Great Repeal Bill.

And I don't worry. I just think it's another lie by the Leavers.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think that the fundamental lie is that we can cut immigration to a trickle and still have a good economy. Given the nature of the leavers close to power I'm fairly confident that the economy will be fine. But what will brexiters think when immigration rises  ?

[Josquius]

I hate that in modern politics. That so much effort goes into naming bills to the extent that they have no relation to what they involve.

[Tamas]

I hate that in modern politics. That so much effort goes into naming bills to the extent that they have no relation to what they involve.

I think we need to stop blaming modern politics for bullshit rampant populism. Bullshit rampant populism is old politics, the few decades where parts of the West had it toned down was the exception, not the rule.

[Josquius]

I wonder how much it would cost to hire a bus to drive around the country with "Leaving the EU will cost us 461 million a weak. Couldn't we be spending that on our NHS instead?" written on it.
https://euromove.org.uk/cost-of-leaving-eu-wipes-out-brexit-bus-nhs-pledge/

I hate that in modern politics. That so much effort goes into naming bills to the extent that they have no relation to what they involve.

I think we need to stop blaming modern politics for bullshit rampant populism. Bullshit rampant populism is old politics, the few decades where parts of the West had it toned down was the exception, not the rule.

It goes back to before this.
You saw a lot of it with Bush II at least.

[The Minsky Moment]

I think that the fundamental lie is that we can cut immigration to a trickle and still have a good economy. Given the nature of the leavers close to power I'm fairly confident that the economy will be fine. But what will brexiters think when immigration rises  ?

It's odd - the UK has one of the best employment rates in world - nearly 75%.  It's the best in the G8 and globally only the Swiss and some of the Scandis are higher.  The problem with the UK economy since 08 has been labor productivity, and cutting back on immigration is unlikely to help that - may make it worse.  Strictly on the econ numbers, it's very hard to make a case for restriction in the UK.

[Josquius]

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think that the fundamental lie is that we can cut immigration to a trickle and still have a good economy. Given the nature of the leavers close to power I'm fairly confident that the economy will be fine. But what will brexiters think when immigration rises  ?

It's odd - the UK has one of the best employment rates in world - nearly 75%.  It's the best in the G8 and globally only the Swiss and some of the Scandis are higher.  The problem with the UK economy since 08 has been labor productivity, and cutting back on immigration is unlikely to help that - may make it worse.  Strictly on the econ numbers, it's very hard to make a case for restriction in the UK.

I do wonder if the tax credits system acts as an "employer subsidy"; making labour relatively cheap for them and suppressing investment into productivity improvements 

[Josquius]

The UK unemployment rate is fudged.
Zero hour contracts, the minimally self employed, those who have left the workforce....

[HVC]

those who have left the workforce....

Every country takes those off, but what's zero hour contracts?

[Josquius]

those who have left the workforce....

Every country takes those off, but what's zero hour contracts?

No set hours of work. Just as and when the employer wants you they call you and demand you be at work.
They're a bit issue of controversy since they've created a class of technically employed but effectively unemployed people

[MadImmortalMan]

The UK unemployment rate is fudged.
Zero hour contracts, the minimally self employed, those who have left the workforce....

We all do that. Most official economic metrics are so tweaked as to relegate them to being useful only for optimistic press releases.

[The Minsky Moment]

The UK unemployment rate is fudged.
Zero hour contracts, the minimally self employed, those who have left the workforce....

Employment rates are harder to fudge though.  Discouraged workers aren't counted.  The latest stat release also shows FT employment growing much faster then PT employment and average hours worked up as well. 

[garbon]