Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? (eBook)

IAN DUNT is a columnist with the i newspaper. He specialises in issues around immigration, civil liberties and social justice and appears as a pundit on BBC TV, Sky News and Al-Jazeera. With Dorian Lynskey, he presents the Origin Story podcast and is a regular contributor to the Oh God, What Now? podcast. Unlike other titles which look back at the EU referendum campaign, Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? grapples with the consequences of actually leaving the EU. Ian's most recent book, How To Be A Liberal (Canbury, 2020), is an epic history of the spread of the ideas underpinning personal freedom. 

MICHAEL GOVE QUOTE. 'I think the people in this country have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms, saying they know what's best and getting it consistently wrong.' Michael Gove, Brexit campaigner, Sky News, 3 June 2016, when told the US, China, India, IMF, CBI etc opposed Brexit
INTRODUCTION. Imagines the disruption to trade if Britain left the European Union without a deal and was forced to fall back on World Trade Organisation rules, leading to Customs and country of origin checks on British goods entering the Continent. Food starts to rot
WHAT WAS THAT? Ian Dunt was laying out Britain's worst-case scenario – a chaotic heard Brexit. But there are alternatives. 'Based on extensive research and discussions with leading experts in politics, the law, markets and Europe, it maps the road ahead, with its multiple hazards and dangers'
WHAT DID WE VOTE FOR? On 23 June 2016, voters in the UK were asked: 'Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union.' The results were: Remain 16,141,241 (48.1%), Leave 17,410,742 (51.9%). Voters could not specify which version of Brexit they wanted
WHAT IS ARTICLE 50? Theresa May triggered Article 50 – the European Union rule that must be invoked by any country wishing to leave – on 29 March 2017. Unlike pretty much any other European law ever written, Article 50 is very short. And nightmarish for the UK
WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN PROJECT? Britain has always been deeply ignorant of the motivation behind the European project, tracing the Coal and Steel Community (France, West Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), European Economic Community which made a bigger common market, and European Union
WHAT IS THE SINGLE MARKET? The single market had been the dream of European planners from the outset. It would not just get rid of tariffs like an ordinary free trade agreement, it would create four fundamental freedoms: • Goods • Capital • Services • People. Europe's people and firms would merge
WHAT ARE THE POLITICS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION? Successive waves of enlargements have increased the EU. Chart of EU members in 2016, relative to the size of the economy. In the 1990s, the EU constructed the Eurozone, a monetary union of 19 member states using the euro. Illustration of EU members and Eurozone
WHAT ABOUT FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT? Boris Johnson joked that he was 'pro having my cake and pro eating it.' The 27 remaining European leaders have stressed that access to the single market 'requires acceptance of all four freedoms', but there may still be some wriggle room.
WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY? Britain faced a full range of options for withdrawal from the European Union, including staying in the customs union and/or staying in the single market. The EU has a full range of menu options for the single market. Norway and Switzerland are members in different ways
NORWAY. When EFTA states Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland joined the single market they became members of a wider European Economic Area (EEA), securing an arm's length relationship with Brussels while enjoying the benefits of free trade
SWITZERLAND. In 1992, Swiss voters rejected the idea of joining the other EU objectors in the European Economic Area. Instead, the Swiss eventually agreed on a series of bilateral treaties with the EU in return for access to the single market. It is a messy fudge
TURKEY. Britain could leave the single market and stay in the customs union. A customs union is only about the taxation of goods. It allows goods to be moved between its members without paying tariffs and has one common tariff arrangement for goods coming from outside.
CANADA. Leaving the single market and customs union means that the closest economic relationship the UK and Europe can expect to have is a free trade deal, like the one between the EU and Canada.