Simon Usherwood Profile picture
Jul 16, 2018 17 tweets 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
A thread on why no-one's happy about Brexit:

1/
Two big reasons why this is:

The referendum, and

The nature of Brexit itself

2/
#EUref offered a binary outcome: remain or leave

However, it didn't specific what either would consist of, in binding terms at least

3/
It wasn't an election, so no new gvt, plus no manifesto commitments either

That meant both sides cld pitch for votes however they liked

4/
Thus both sides built up huge coalitions of voters, bound only by decision that their interests would be served by voting a particular way

5/
So intrinsically the case that the winning coalition would contain many disappointed voters, who'd not voted for whatever particular version actually happened

6/
(NB would have happened if Remain won too)

7/
Put differently, Leave campaign didn't care why you voted Leave, just that you did

8/
However - and this moves us to the 2nd element - having chosen to leave, also evident that costs have to be apportioned

9/
Costs come in two flavours.

1st, there's the transitional costs: moving from status quo ante to new situation implies change, and thus costs

10/
But also, 2nd, there are more permanent costs, arising for reduced level of economic integration, whatever form of Brexit occurs

11/
(NB it's not that no-one can benefit, but that overall there is a cost)

12/
As shape of Brexit becomes clearer (even if Chequers isn't necessarily it), so too do costs, so to be expected that more people are unhappy about it

13/
Brexit is and always has been an exercise in apportioning costs.

That further collapses the #EUref coalition, as chickens come home to roost, scaring away the unicorns

14/
The difficult will be that opposing one form of Brexit does not necessarily make finding another, more acceptable form any easier

All forms will have costs to someone

15/
Thus outcome might say more about relative power/influence of groups to resist costs, than about intrinsic merits of that outcome

16/
Which is probably another reason to unhappy about it all

/end

#MondayTweeting

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More from @Usherwood

Oct 9, 2018
While I kick my heels for a meeting, let's think about Brexit and inevitability:

1/
Let's start off by noting that I'm not a big one for inevitability, in any political situation

2/
It's a throwing up of the hands and submitting to forces beyond our control: 'there's nothing to be done'

Personally, I think there's always something to be done

3/
Read 18 tweets
Oct 8, 2018
So, what to make of today?

1/
Over the weekend, lots of +ve optics and warm words, to get mvt from the conference-season slump

But lots of reining in during the day

2/
Partly, it's sensible expectation mgt: one might have had the impression that suddenly everything was hunky-dory and the work of a moment

3/
Read 13 tweets
Oct 5, 2018
Possibly more for me than for you, let's try to pull this week together a bit:

1/
Let's start with the EU side

Having largely kept heads down during conference season, yesterday's Tusk/Varadkar presser demonstrated that EU is keeping the pressure on

2/
The tension seems to be between COM/EUCO and IE, as @pmdfoster explained well yesterday: IE making conciliatory noises, central EU bodies pushing EU integrity line



3/
Read 17 tweets
Oct 4, 2018
Let's just work through this one, given the attention it's getting
By taking the CON rebels' terminology, Tusk is making a point

But what point?
As we know from the infamous Barnier Steps, the EU offer is conditioned on UK red lines as much as anything

Read 8 tweets
Oct 4, 2018
Interesting to see how it's just as UK debate sits down for a bit on Brexit, to recover from conference season, negotiations w EU step up
If past fortnight has been about domestic management, then coming fortnight will be about UK working w EU to find ways to get mvt on WA/PD
Because of that hiatus after Salzburg, there's now v.little time left to achieve mvt in time for Oct #EUCO, hence the rush now
Read 11 tweets
Oct 3, 2018
So, the CON party conference and Brexit:

1/
Back in Sept, there was much talk about this being a crunch point in the UK debate, as May would come under fire for Chequers and there would be scope for changes/realignments/whatever

2/
Certainly that first bit has happened, with numerous op-eds over the weekend and assorted fringe events (inc. yesterday's Johnson speech)

3/
Read 15 tweets

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