Thread by @WilliamCB

OK. We've got to the point where #Revoker is having a moment. I have been a #Revoker for over two years, ever since I realised how thoroughly the sequencing of A50 screwed the UK. My pinned tweet is a revoke petition I started in June 2017. Here's a thread on what I've learnt. 1/

The most important thing about revoking is that "Revoke does not mean Revoke." That is, it's not a simple thing and there's not only one way of doing it. It's not the legality I'm talking about but the politics. 2/

Revoke now seems to be mostly a position of ardent Remainers. In which case, revoking is a means of killing Brexit, reversing the referendum result and delivering a knock out punch to Farage and co. It's a way of winning. As such, its appeal to Leavers is 0. 3/

This isn't what I had in mind at all. My point was that the sequencing of A50 leaves us in such a terrible negotiating position that neither Remainers nor Leavers should want the end result. Thus the point of revoking was to honour the referendum differently, by pursuing ...

...a revised relationship with the EU via other means. (In that sense, yes, it was a continuation of "British exceptionalism"). This was supposed to appeal to Leavers as well. Hence the image of hands joining, bringing the country together. 5/

I'm not sure this particular idea has become any more plausible in the subsequent two years. However, it illustrates a more general point that is important. The revoking can be done with many different intentions, and these matter. Here are a few options. 6/

A #Revoker can mean:
- Revoke and win (status quo)
- Revoke and steam on (become more European)
- Revoke and honour (revise relationship with EU)
- Revoke and re-think (eg citizens assemblies)
- Revoke and renegotiate departure outside A50.
Which one are you? 7/

On the legal front, I think they are all possible because we can revoke on the basis that as a country we sincerely don't know what we want to do and therefore cannot proceed with the A50 process. 8/

For myself, I no longer hope for British exceptionalism. I think becoming more European - ie turning ourselves into a social democracy - is probably the best way to solve the problems we have here in the UK, including the q of how to relate to Europe. 9/

The question for any #Revoker is what kind of revoke you want. Let's not repeat the Brexiteer deceit of pretending there aren't big choices here. Ends.