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So.. do you think that the British govt's intention IS to introduce a hard border? I find that hard to imagine.

rcxdude 8y ago
It's quite hard to work out what the UK government is intending to do at all. There's no unity within the government about what the priorities for negotiation are and there's been basically no proposals which have stood up for any length of time. (This was the biggest problem with the referendum: 'leave' encompassed a huge variety of possible options with very different outcomes, and it seems each leave voter was imagining their own version of this. I believe even if there was no change in any voters opinions there is no specific plan which would be preferred by the majority over remaining in the EU).
- detritus 8y ago
  That was sort of the underlying point of my response here - I think we can agree that a worst-case scenario (to the British government, anyway) would be the creation of a hard border in Ireland.. ..the problem is that everything peripheral to that is a mess worthy of a drunken juggler. There's just too much conflicting to make any sense until 'something' is agreed. My personal suspicions (read: hopes) these last few months are apparently shared by Lord Owen (who does not hope) - namely that the apparent levels of shambolic disorganisation are actually a ploy to create such a mess that as much of the fallout from Brexit can be mitigated. I'd not be entirely surprised if the thing's drawn out another year or so and then somehow the entire enterprise is swep under the carpet and the UK tucks its tail between its legs and settles back where it should've never left in the first place. Bear in mind, there's no actual precedence for any of this - I believe if there was any way of getting the UK to stay, somehow, without excess compromise for the EU, 'rules would be broken' because.. well, there aren't any.

It's quite hard to work out what the UK government is intending to do at all. There's no unity within the government about what the priorities for negotiation are and there's been basically no proposals which have stood up for any length of time. (This was the biggest problem with the referendum: 'leave' encompassed a huge variety of possible options with very different outcomes, and it seems each leave voter was imagining their own version of this. I believe even if there was no change in any voters opinions there is no specific plan which would be preferred by the majority over remaining in the EU).

detritus 8y ago
That was sort of the underlying point of my response here - I think we can agree that a worst-case scenario (to the British government, anyway) would be the creation of a hard border in Ireland.. ..the problem is that everything peripheral to that is a mess worthy of a drunken juggler. There's just too much conflicting to make any sense until 'something' is agreed. My personal suspicions (read: hopes) these last few months are apparently shared by Lord Owen (who does not hope) - namely that the apparent levels of shambolic disorganisation are actually a ploy to create such a mess that as much of the fallout from Brexit can be mitigated. I'd not be entirely surprised if the thing's drawn out another year or so and then somehow the entire enterprise is swep under the carpet and the UK tucks its tail between its legs and settles back where it should've never left in the first place. Bear in mind, there's no actual precedence for any of this - I believe if there was any way of getting the UK to stay, somehow, without excess compromise for the EU, 'rules would be broken' because.. well, there aren't any.