Brexit: Is Brexit Impossible To Deliver?

The answer is Yes, so far. And in the future? The evidence suggest it will be Yes again.

Why is this? There are two threads. The first is that nobody ever really thought through what Brexit meant, nor how it could be achieved. Politicians thought in purely political terms. Many Brexit voters thought in emotional terms. There was a good deal of nostalgia for some bygone era, which having lived and worked through it, was nothing like the ideal now recalled. But absolutely nobody understood the depth of integration that 45 years of ever closer union had brought about in structural terms, covering everything from legals, business, education, science. research, medicine, trade, finance, families, ownership, domicile and travel. Plus international treaties of all kinds. And the Good Friday agreement. Topped by the potential impact on the Union of the nations of the British Isles. It is likely impossible to actually achieve full separation, since whether Britain in a member of the EU or not in formal political terms, the interdependence and inter-relationships will continue.

The second thread is this. While Remain is unambiguous and means one thing only and requires no action of any sort beyond the recall of Article 50, there are as many different interpretations of variable types of Brexit as there are stars in the sky. Mix that with an adversarial political structure, parties split on the key issue and again on interpretations of the way forward and you have a total breakdown in governance, which is structurally and functionally unable to find a sufficient degree of consensus to enact the complex legislation to give effect to the original notion.

So there you have it. Brexit is impossible unless a completely different level of compromise bursts into bloom across the entire political class. If you can see that happening, have a nice day.