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Some thoughts on No Deal and fair play. I suspect for many Leavers this is about violating the deeply felt British sense of fairness. 'We won, we deserve what we won'. The inescapable fact is that what they won is not a free gift, every version of it comes at a cost. 1/n
The 'softer' the departure, the more the UK will engage with EU rules and regulations, the harder, the more trade we will lose with the EU and the more we will become internationally isolated and weaker. And then there is Ireland (and Gibraltar) and probably Scotland. 2/n
Yet the fairness dynamic has enormous traction. Unless Remainers can find a counter-narrative which (rightly) explains the unfairness of making even poorer our poorest & most vulnerable of exposing the Irish to the high risk of internecine violence & the breaking up the Union 3/n
The 'fairness' narrative will continue its relentless, destructive, journey. A hard border in Ireland, 'screw the Irish, we won', Scottish independence, 'they are Remainers anyway, farewell', disintegrating public services, 'we knew freedom would carry a price' 4/n
So the next PM/Govt can either continue to hang on to the 'fairness' bandwagon or he or she can screw their courage to a sticking place and tell the nation that some costs of leaving are just too great and will not be paid. 5/n
If this is not done, domino after domino will fall. We leave with no deal and will find the EU still and even more insists on the backstop, so there will be a hard border in Ireland and civil conflict. The Scots will vote to remain in the EU as an independent state. 6/n
Sensible Tories and all to their Left must now grasp this and explain we are currently heading for a rather nasty, certainly impoverished and deeply unfair Little England. Buses have figured prominently in #Brexit. It's now the very last chance to stop this one and get off. /end
