Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Speeding to Brexit


So, looks like the Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament needs to vote on the triggering of Article-50, an example of free and independent law making that ironically we supposedly don't have (according to Brexiters). No doubt this decision will precipitate a wave of whining by the pro-crowd that we should move on and shut-up, unfortunately they'll just have to suck it up, that's what democracy means, i.e. a plurality of views. In any case this seems to me to be mostly about procedure rather than a policy, meaning that a bunch of people for whom no one has voted, in the shape of the current rag-tag Cabinet, cannot simply implement their own parochial (and unclear) plans without first gaining authority from the sovereign body that is Parliament, sounds right and proper to me.

I do worry that this already divisive issue will in the months to come even further divide the people in this country. We haven't experienced any pain from this decision yet, and our economics seem to be inside a little "bubble" because of the devaluation of Sterling (record high FTSE etc.). However when the dust has cleared and people start losing their jobs from companies that fold or move due to inevitable European trade being lost, I fear a bitter and painful backlash will emerge that could take many years to dissipate. Fortunately my company doesn't do any serious European trade however, after years of hard-slog, if I lost my business due to this stupid decision I would feel very bitter indeed.

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