Thread by @Usherwood

Key #Brexit take-aways from #UACES2018 (one of the largest European Studies conferences):

1/

Firstly, there's a huge amount of research activity centring on Brexit these days: for any conceivable aspect there's an expert (and usually several) working on it

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(you find out who via the programme: uaces.org/events/confere…)

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Despite this, various people tell me it's still really difficult to get access to policy-makers.

That looks like a loss for the latter, given the rigour and evidence-led approach being taken in the research

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Secondly, that research is really pointing up the scale and intricacy of pursuing a post-membership relationship, as the UK unpicks 40+ yrs of entangling regulatory, economic and political activity

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That's not to say that it shouldn't be attempted, but that it's not amendable to simple solutions

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Thirdly, and consequently, a central gap in all this is a clear understanding of the UK's strategic intent in all this: what's the purpose of leaving and what place does it want to be?

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Thus Brexit is fundamentally linked to other, wider projects and political choices and to ignore that will make resolution even more challenging

8/

tl;dr you're gonna need a bigger set of experts

/end