Thread by @robertsharp59

So although I’m watching the #scd final I find my mind wandering and worrying about #Brexit. That’s emblematic of how consuming and perinicious British politics is at the moment. I thought I would blurt out a quick thread on what happens after 29 March. 1/n

First, the one thing we can probably all agree on is that Remainers have spent a lot of time ‘fighting the last war’ so-to-peak. The passionate defence of the EU that should have come in 2016 (and in the decades before, for that matter) only manifested itself after #EUref 2/n

(Aside, one thing I bang on about a lot is that we need to be pre-emptively campaigning to save the UK sign up to the ECHR, before Theresa May or similarly minded PM takes us out of that too) 3/n

Second, I and many others have lamented the lack of co-operation between Leavers and Remainers, post referendum.

Brexiters blame ‘Remoaners’ for not getting behind them; While those who voted Remain are angry at having been entirely ignored since 23.06.2016 4/n

On that day, I suggested that both sides *could* co-operate to forge something new and interesting robertsharp.co.uk/2016/06/24/her… 5/n

At the moment, our politics is bonkers and polarised. The prospect that #Brexit might be reversed is tantalisingly close and so many people who support staying in the EU, if they are looking to the future, are strategising how to achieve that one... 6/n

There are also rather base, realpolitik reasons for not engaging with other possible outcomes. Doing so admits that there *are* other options at a time when Remainers want to funnel MPs into the belief that the choice is Hard Brexit or No Brexit. 7/n

But it is not yet certain that May’s Withdrawl Agreement will fall. Nor is it certain that the EU won’t pull something else out of a hat if Article 50 got extended (because of a General Election, say). & it is not certain that this or another PM won’t take us to Hard Brexit 8/n

All of which presents some questions. The first is: If/When we leave the EU, to what extent will the Remain/Divide persist? Surely this polarisation exists because of policy choices. When a policy is chosen & enacted irreversibly, would it make sense to be a ‘Remainer’ 9/n

Like, if Scotland voted for Independence, as it might, it surely would make no sense to cling to Unionist as a political identity.

The question would be settled and shut in a way that the simple fact of the referendum result did not. 10/n

The second question - and really the whole point of this thread - is what plans are being made for after Brexit?

I don’t mean trade deals.

I don’t mean contingencies for getting medicines into the country or keeping planes in the air... 11/n

I mean, what are the long term political projects that we can get behind a*that would be enabled by Brexit*? That would not be possible if we were still in the EU? 12/n

What realignments or devolutions are now possible?

And just as crucial - what elite or nefarious power grabs and asset stripping are planned, that we@must resist? 13/n

I mean, if you think that #Brexit is a conspiracy (and journalists like @carolecadwalla are slowly demonstrating the extent that it is) then you can bet that those perpetrating it have plans for what comes next. I worry that the rest of us don’t... 14/n

Though for the purposes of this thread, i’m more interested in the question of how Remainers can find *potential* in being out of the EU, once/if it becomes hard reality. 15/n

What the progressive, liberal project should be after we leave the EU is just not a discussion that we seem to be having.

Or rather, it’s not a discussion that’s happening on *my* timeline! 16/n

Though I imagine the question of long term thinking about making the best of #Brexit is happening *somewhere* and that people like @AnthonyBarnett @sundersays @PeteNorth303 @rolandmcs know where.

17/17

@threadreaderapp What's the netiquette for requesting that you unroll my own thread?