Thread by @AndrewPRLevi

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre Norway, for example. It’s doing well. You know the difference (apart from huge gas reserves). It’s in the single market. If it had treaty commitments similar to those the UK has in respect of Ireland, it’d additionally need to be in the customs union. Similarly, Switzerland. /1.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre Alternatively, they could trash themselves & help destabilise the continent of which they’re a part.

Or Serbia, as another example. Aren’t they just doing great?

Or Angola. Terrific. /2.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre But, of course, what you (probably) really mean is highly prosperous countries which aren’t in Europe & aren’t (& couldn’t be) members of the EU. Say, Canada, Japan, Australia. /3.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre The thing is, they’ve all gone to great & increasing lengths to integrate themselves into as frictionless an economic zone as they can manage, in their respective neighbourhoods. /4.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre The reasons for that surely don’t need to be rehearsed here.

What they absolutely haven’t done is dislocate themselves. Because that would be nuts. /5.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre But maybe you mean the USA. We aren’t the USA: a continental scale mega economy & global hegemon (albeit relatively less powerful than it once was). Even they have (rightly) felt the need to engage deeply with their neighbourhood. /6.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre But set that last point aside. The US offers a useful perspective for UK fantasists. California’s economy is somewhat larger than the UK’s. It’s deeply integrated into the US single market & customs union (other than eg a few restrictions on the shipping of oranges!). /7.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre It’s a net contributor to the public finances of the federation. Its per capita income is high (about double the UK’s BTW). The insanity of ripping it out of that single market & customs union is manifest - except to a few Californian secessionists. /8.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre That doesn’t mean it couldn’t ever happen. Just that it would be a disaster if it did. Choosing to impose sanctions on yourselves, even (or perhaps especially) under cover of the purported “will of the people”, is always destabilising & fantastically dangerous. /9.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre The UK is unique in the world in pursuing a policy set to change itself from California into Belarus. /10.

@RatatoskrUK @ParisDaguerre And if you’re thinking we were never quite California & we’ll never be as bad as Belarus, I agree on the first point. On the second, unfortunately, you’d be kidding yourself.

But, on the bright side, whether we go there depends on what we do next. /11. End

@threadreaderapp please unroll.