What are Remainers really wanting? Political Union.

“It’s the economy stupid”, words often attributed to Bill Clinton.  But in fact they were coined by James Carville who was a campaign strategist of Bill Clinton's in 1992s presidential campaign against sitting president George H. W. Bush.  It worked.    

But the case of the UK leaving the EU, it’s not about the economy.  The idea that the UK will somehow be worse off was finally buried in the snow of Davos by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development chief Jose Angel Gurría being very relaxed with the idea of  a no-deal with the EU Brexit.  He was pretty emphatic:  “A no deal, WTO rules…the whole world is running by WTO rules these days!”. In other words, why would the UK not want to be on WTO like most of the rest of the world.    

One can hardly get a more senior figure in the world on trade saying don't worry, WTO is not a cliff edge.  And as Brian Monteith, director of communications at Global Britain reminded us in yesterdays CityAM, despite apocalyptic Brexit warnings, the good news keeps on coming.

And even the process of leaving the EU and entering the big wide world will be relatively smooth according to John Manzoni the chief executive of the Civil Service who said they will “not be completely prepared” for a no deal Brexit.   

“Not completely” is the key suggesting they are mostly prepared.  So a bit bumpy?  Yes.  But a catastrophe?  Don’t be daft.  Or as one anonymous but well placed Civil Servant wrote: "Very detailed plans have been proposed, assessed, analysed to death and finally agreed".

Those MPs who keep talking about crashing out are the ones in fantasy land.  Mind you, the damage they are causing is significant.  No wonder people like James Dyson are looking around the globe and asking, is the UK really serious about being a global player?    The way MPs are behaving it sure doesn't look like it.

So, what are Remainers really wanting?  Well, they want to stay in the political European Union.  With all that comes with staying in it.  Let them be a bit more open and honest why they want to stay.  People might even agree with them.  But their constant negativity and misrepresentation of the reality of leaving the EU without a deal with the EU is really getting beyond a joke.