Thread by @chrisgreybrexit

There's plenty of nonsense in this article, as well as a few grains of truth. But the most striking thing is that, even now, the ideas about how "Brexit could still transform Britain" are still so vague and ambiguous. The sole proposals in this long article are these: 1/11 https://t.co/lSjsiDpKzH

https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1672598928775159808

Because they are so vague, it is hard to be sure what they mean. But (depending perhaps what "robust" means), those I've marked in yellow don't require & aren't enabled by Brexit. Of those, the taxation one is maybe the most complex to unravel. 2/11

Taxes on individuals could mean various things, but if it means income tax, then rates vary within the EU from 10% in Romania to 56% in Denmark. If business taxes means Corporation Tax, it varies from 9% in Hungary to 35% in Malta. 3/11

But I've marked business tax in yellow & green, with green denoting possibly Brexit-related, because Neil may be referring to the EU's sign-up to the OECD 15% minimum Corporation Tax rate: 4/11bbc.co.uk/news/business-…

The UK has also agreed that (and was one of its architects), but it's true there was talk Truss would pull out of it: & Priti Patel has recently urged the UK to do so: https://t.co/WyCRAk0NwA tho' most countries are signed up: https://t.co/ltZz74V3q7 5/11telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
reuters.com/business/count…

Then there are the things marked in green, which could be about Brexit, though a "dynamic digital economy" could mean almost anything. I suspect/ assume it means Data Protection regulation, long claimed as a potential benefit of Brexit. 6/11

If so then significant divergence from EU GDPR -> loss of EU adequacy recognition -> huge business costs: 7/11computerweekly.com/opinion/The-ri…

The other things marked in green are explicitly regulatory, and perhaps relate to things like gene editing and AI. If so, the issue is whether UK-specific regimes can become global standards (unlikely, given UK size) or just result in UK firms facing double regulation. 8/11

There are also big questions about whether light-touch (which probably also means higher risk) systems are desirable. These are all complex issues, which the suggestion of easy and self-evident benefits ignores. 9/11

Neil's not a fool, and he is very careful to cover himself with the (blue-highlighted) "probably easier to achieve outside" (tho he can't resist a dig at the "sclerotic EU"). On the yellow examples, at least, that's just not true. 10/11

As for the others, they are of highly questionable value, and all of them are extremely vague. And this seven years after the referendum. At some point, the idea Brexit will become beneficial with enough "belief" ceases to be credible. That point has passed. 11/11