Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

But again, the UK (whatever version of it exists by then) won't be re-joining the EU, it will be a new application for membership, on terms that are set by the version of the EU that exists at the time.

This is where British (especially Brexiter) exceptionalism comes into play again - thinking that the rest of the world will remain crystallised in the same form it held in 1973, and that the country can just pick up where it left off. That's not going to be the case. Even if the UK stands still, the EU will continue to develop and modify its regulations. There are already various EU rules set to come into force this year and next which will create divergence from the static UK - and only Rees Mogg was defending his infamous Brexit Bonfire Bill.

By the time the matter can be seriously considered - and I think we're looking at about 30-50 years for full membership - there will be no re in the joining process. That's why I think it is unhelpful to use the term rejoin in the discussion of future options for Britain - at least not until after the population has accepted the arguments in favour of dynamic alignment.

Whatever it is called, I cannot see it happening in the short term. i believe the UK has a long road to travel in order to be in a place where it will make a serious application to join. If will need to accept that the days of UK exceptionalism are gone. That the electoral system needs sorting out. That a written constitution will almost certainly be required. We're talking decades I think for that to happen.

I think , were an application to be made, that the EU would monitor political sentiment in the UK first. They will not risk another Brexit. And , i think, that if the UK were to join within the next 20-30 years , there is a distinct possibility that it would again decide to Brexit. That is too much turmoil for the EU to risk.

And right now you have both main political parties promising the electorate that they will double down on Brexit and make it work. It is clear that EU membership is still being used by leaders in the UK for their own party political reasons. Until that nonsense stops, the EU would be very wary of any closer ties with the UK.

I suppose the main question is whether the English (not the British) are even capable of EU membership. The right wing half of the country has some very strange attitudes towards Europe and European people - a mixture of looking down on Europeans, whilst secretly nursing a massive inferiority complex about them. Even that noxious slogan "love Europe, hate the EU" gives you a glimpse into their weird mindset.

I'm not sure that xenophobic half of the English population (and media and political class etc) would ever be capable of being a normal member of the EU.

But then, point your spying glass on who’s been majoritarily bankrolling her and her party for the last few years and, oh surprise. €8m’s worth of Russian bank loans after dropping by Uncle Vlad, then €10m last year from Hungarian banks 😏

Drive around in Britain outside of major urban centres in your foreign registered LHD car, and observe how many people in the street and car parks look at you, as if you had 3 heads. Mostly elderly people. That was certainly the case last week.

There's no comparison with a country gaining its independence. The UK spent 15 years trying to join the EEC (and kept getting rebuffed, especially by De Gaulle). All of this has been edited from history by the right wing press.

Huge natural resources - coal, oil, natural gas, steel, timber, arable land, livestock, fresh water, big population, excellent climate for humans, major landmass....it has just about everything going for it.