Kind of misses the point, UK is focused on trying to fix the shit show that is Westminster and Whitehall, the very people who pinned the blame for everything on the EU for 40 years after unilaterally signing us up for their own business interests. EU is not our concern right now, we have bigger problems.
I think the UK could eventually rejoin the EU but it’s not going to happen soon. Brexiteers are probably a minority of the British population now (Brexiteers tend to be older, and some of those voters have passed away since the Brexit referendum). But the pro-Brexit camp has wealthy backers who will kick up a fuss.
Maybe what will happen is more indecision and half measures for the next 10 or 20 years, perhaps followed by another referendum that would take us back into the EU.
As for terms, it depends on what the EU would insist. Perhaps they would insist upon the UK adopting the Euro.
I doubt it will happen, but it would be a strong political gesture - a clear signal to those hoping to undermine our unity and the EU as a whole.
Unofficially via trade agreements and defence agreements, yes - and that process is already underway. Officially as a full official member - not for at least a generation. The country needs its English Thatcherite Gen Xers - the flag shaggers and mini-roundabout painters - to die off before that can happen.
And to be honest, given how much fucking stress this country caused the EU and also given we’re now about as powerful as a weak sneeze I’m hard pressed to think of a reason why they’d even want us back.
I would love it, but I don’t hold out hope. If we did, I would fully expect us to make plenty of concessions and agree to extra restrictions to stop us leaving the next time a prime minister wants to appease the eurosceptics. But I think what’s much more likely is continued re-integration into EU/European networks and systems from outside the EU at a higher cost than before. It might be humiliating to nationalists, but at the end of the day our future is bound to that of the rest of Europe and working together is a matter of survival, not principle.
I don’t see the EU allowing the UK to keep the pound if they rejoin which at present is a complete deal-breaker even for most remain voters.
I would vote for it. Drop the pound just to spite the boomers who pulled the ladder up.
I doubt it. Most “Reform-types” won’t accept Brexit wasn’t a good thing for the common person.
As they say; it’s easier to trick someone than to convince them they’ve been tricked.
As a unitedstatesian, I was genuinely baffled by Brexit - particularly the political establishment’s insistence on following the referendum despite the significant numbers of people who stated it was a protest vote, and all the analysis that said it would be rather economically catastrophic.
But nope: See that brick wall? Let’s floor it and hope for the best, wcgw?
The Brexit phenomenon is very similar to the Trump phenomenon. Populist, anti-immigrant, nationalist sentiment.
The best of democracy - if people choose to abolish democracy it and appoint a totalitarian cult leader for life - it would be undemocratic to prevent the will of the people.
Exactly why “protest votes” are such a monumentally stupid idea. In a referendum, people vote for what outcome the people want, and the people will get what they voted for. Do they think the ballot box is supposed to be able to tell who genuinely wanted to leave the EU and who was just being a cheeky asshole?
My mum voted brexit and she regrets it. She says such an issue shouldn’t have been put to a refurrendum as the average person didn’t know what the EU was, so they just had to be lied to for a few months.
If you don’t know, vote to keep the status quo. Or don’t vote. What the fuck did she think she was doing?
Jesus, these people.
She thought the EU was just unnecessary bureaucracy
It is, no doubt. But she failed to see the benefits that came with it. It’s not pick and choose, you get the benefits in exchange for also taking the downsides.
I guess she was right that it should never have been put to referendum if that’s what the average person thought.
I agree - there’s multiple very thorough levels of stupid at play with regards to Brexit
Have the USA recently joined the UK?
We’re certainly following the UK’s lead in fucking up our relationships for zero gain.
Simply making commentary. And I clearly noted I was not in the target demographic as the first thing I said. You don’t need to be a dick about it. I’m not a fan of our regime, either.
Petition for the UK to reclaim the colonies.
Petition for the UK to ship reform off to the colonies.
It’ll make both countries smarter.
If it is it’s probaly a long way down the line. The current poll leading right wing party has a very strong eurosceptic streak to it (well all the right wing parties do) and as long as they’re around in any capacity it will be hard to get that through. There’s the fact I think the topic is just a massive hot potato too. The political process that led up to brexit and the brexot process itself was a fucking mess and I think there is a level of national exhaustion over it despite polling long showing that everyone has worked out brexit was a terrible idea/ most the folks who voted for brexit are dead.
You’ll see some closer relationship being forged in the form of some sort of trade deal or some kind of Norway like situation much sooner, indeed o think the current labour government are angling for something like that but not sure of the details.
I actually think full membership is pretty unlikely, at least in the short to medium term. Well, unless we get a Lib Dem majority government (not going to happen). The far-right hate the EU because their brains have been cooked on Telegraph and Murdoch slop and the left is flirting with MMT, something the fiscal rules of the Lisbon treaty prohibits.
Even with a LibDem majority government I don’t think it would be a currency union. They’re rejoiners for sure, but I think it’s to re-establish what was lost. Not go further.
The keep your own currency deal and stay out of Schengen permission was only ever for existing members. It isn’t open to new joiners. Neither is the membership fee rebate, which was only ever for us.
Not going further is a power we used to have, but lost permanently when we left.
What is MMT?
Modern Monetary Theory. Technically it’s just a description of how money works, but MMT people tend to advocate positions about increasing spending and that government debt isn’t actually a factor in the state of the economy.
Modern Monetary Theory, this is a decent explanation about what it is.
Does anybody have anything other than an “introduction” to MMT? I find that everything I see stops short of answering the questions I have.
- MMTers will say it’s just a new (more accurate) way to think about how the existing system works, but how does it effect a governments options for policy?
- They will also say it’s not a license to spend recklessly, as the difference between money issued and money reclaimed drives inflation. This sounds like having a limit on a budget deficit / borrowing to me, so how is this different?
- They will also stress that it means you don’t have to wait for growth (i.e. increasing tax income) to start government spending as spending is money creation. Fine, but it’s still a feedback loop, and after year 1 why does it matter where the loop started?
I think the EU would need some sort of ‘Brenter’ poll first, to see if the spoilt brat of the family would be welcomed back, what with all our needy requirements about keeping our own currency etc. I can’t see it personally for a long time as there’s still that resistance to change things that are viewed as ‘ours’ and changing them to something viewed as ‘theirs’. We never really fully committed to it the first time. Hopefully we’ll see the need to join the ‘middle powers’ in some kind of alliance though.
I think most would be okay if they didn’t get preferred treatment. Gotta adopt the Euro. No Schengen opt out. Etc. Years long process just like everyone.
We all know it wouldn’t happen anyhow.
Yes, but we’ll be have a customs union first with a services agreement as well.
I don’t see us taking the Euro. I just don’t think anyone wants to surrender economic policy to the ECB, and the last time we tried to go through the ERM process it ended very badly. The GBP is too heavily traded in it’s own right to maintain the exchange rates in a tight enough band for long enough.
I don’t see any benefit for the EU for services, so I don’t think they’ll agree to it without full membership of the single market and the four freedoms.
How is this related to buying european goods and services?
It affects how easy it is for people in one European country to purchase goods from another European country. It also affects how aligned the regulatory framework of the UK is with the rest of Europe, which impacts the types of goods and services that get made/sold there
You can always expand to that sort of reasoning. There is a difference between “European news vaguely related to trade” and “discussing european goods and services”.
This is a problem in this community, see also https://szmer.info/post/11377754/13171777 France buying aircraft carrier? It’s an european alternative! /s
Most of the country wants it but the politicians don’t want to give the far right any excuses.
What we’re seeing is closer and closer alignment until we end up as a defacto member of the common market, but without a say over the rules.
If we end up rejoining it will probably take more than a decade and it will be under the default rules, just because the EU can’t be bothered to deal with British exceptionalism again.
I hope so. At least economic/defence/no_border part of the union.
