Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Admiral Yi]

 

[Zanza]

Great text, celedhring. 

[mongers]

BREAKING: Theresa May outlines the basis of a Brexit deal with Labour after 3 days of talks: End free movement and protect jobs. No mention of a second referendum.

[Josquius]

If its true then no more labour votes from me.

[Richard Hakluyt]

With EU membership, or more generally an open or closed society, at the top of the political agenda our two main parties no longer make sense. We are in for a rough ride and hopefully the narrow-minded will not win.

Furthermore, channeling Cato here............Cameron is a fucking moron.

[The Brain]

Surely these talks on fundamental issues took place in 2016. Why report them now?

[Zanza]

Surely these talks on fundamental issues took place in 2016. Why report them now?

Just imagine the EU just saying no next week. The British would all of a sudden come to realize that this is not a domestic policy issue.

But I guess, the EU will kick the can down the road. I hope they force a second referendum at least. Time seems right to intervene in the domestic political process now. If Britain cannot solve it and needs our cooperation, we should use that leverage to support the millions of pro-EU British and give them a chance to be heard. Party politics has failed in Britain.

[mongers]

Meanwhile gotta 'love' the way the Commons is sedately going about it's business during this national crisis:

[garbon]

Maybe they want to get stuff out of the way that they could something about before everyone gets their backs up with Brexit discussions?

[mongers]

Maybe they want to get stuff out of the way that they could something about before everyone gets their backs up with Brexit discussions?

Wasn't complaining about the content, rather the relaxed hours, what with 4 days to go.

And heavens forbid they have a weekend sitting during the brexit debacle. 

[Tamas]

Sitting and yelling whenever you agree or disagree is tough work, man.

[mongers]

Sitting and yelling whenever you agree or disagree is tough work, man.

Yeah, some of the behaviour is bizarre; last week a conservative woman was speaking and the tory mp for Swindon, two seats to the left was just saying/ nearly shouting "rubbish, rubbish" over and again. 

[alfred russel]

To be a bit of a contrarian, how has this really been a debacle? The FTSE is significantly higher than it was at the time of the brexit vote, and the British economy is doing fine. The economy isn't everything, but it seems the primary concern is economic. It doesn't appear that british people are going to be banned from europe, and regarding migration wherever the result lies, from full british control to status quo, doesn't seem like it would result in a catastrophy.

[Tamas]

To be a bit of a contrarian, how has this really been a debacle? The FTSE is significantly higher than it was at the time of the brexit vote, and the British economy is doing fine. The economy isn't everything, but it seems the primary concern is economic. It doesn't appear that british people are going to be banned from europe, and regarding migration wherever the result lies, from full british control to status quo, doesn't seem like it would result in a catastrophy.

The problem is that the most optimal result is the status quo, which decision-makers are bound to destroy, to honour the referendum result.

The last few years have been really good for the economy world-wide, really, and AFAIK there could be good arguments made that the UK made worse than it could have. It certainly is among the slowest of its peers.

And Brexit hasn't actually happened. Business doesn't even know what form it will take. Yeah I know we are almost two weeks past the original deadline, but there you have it.

Also, I find it very bad that even Remainers concentrate on the short-term economic damage. It would be substantial but there are myriad small to large things that people will actively notice if a no-deal crashout happens.  The no-deal lunatics operate with slogans like "Let's go WTO!" but having tariffs or not is a small portion of the problems presented.

[crazy canuck]

To be a bit of a contrarian, how has this really been a debacle? The FTSE is significantly higher than it was at the time of the brexit vote, and the British economy is doing fine. The economy isn't everything, but it seems the primary concern is economic. It doesn't appear that british people are going to be banned from europe, and regarding migration wherever the result lies, from full british control to status quo, doesn't seem like it would result in a catastrophy.

The economy is not doing fine.  It is stalled.  And the uncertainty since the referendum has impacted business confidence and investment which will lead to future economic under performance and higher unemployment.

Here is one of many pieces on the damage Brexit has caused.

We find that Brexit has been an important source of uncertainty for many UK businesses. We estimate that this led to a 6% reduction in investment in the first two years after the referendum, with employment also around 1.5% lower. And Brexit is likely to reduce future UK productivity by around half a percentage point via a batting average effect of output being reallocated away from higher productivity firms toward lower productivity ones. The majority of businesses anticipate that Brexit will eventually reduce sales and increase costs.

https://hbr.org/2019/03/brexit-is-already-affecting-uk-businesses-heres-how