BREXITY COMPLEXITY

BREXIT is not just in or out or deal or no deal. BREXIT raises deeper, wider, more complex issues which can be distilled down to a list of seven profoundly, interrelated questions about who we are, who want to be, how we relate to one another as well as Britain's place in the world in the 21st century. BREXIT is COMPLEX.

1 Europe Question. Are we in out?
2 Britain’s Place in the world Question. Exactly what is our role?
3 Irish Question. What’s the future of Northern Ireland?
4 Union Question. Are we really the United Kingdom?
5 United Kingdom Question. Why the difference in life chances across the country?
6 The Two-Party, Left -Right System Question. Is it still fit for purpose in 21st Century Britain?
7 The Parliament Question. Does our current Parliamentary system work, do we need to rethink it?

These questions have been simmering unresolved for years coming to the surface at various times being resolved by a temporary resolution or kludge, then we move on with the question dormant, unresolved, simmering. We now have the perfect storm of BREXIT which has brought all seven to the surface simultaneously. BREXIT is COMPLEX.

The issue is no one politician or party has the answer for all seven that the nation can agree up on. We cannot even agree on the priorities; which question is more pressing than the other. Unless and until we agree on the priorities then we are doomed to BREXIT times:  a seemingly never ending cycle of missed deadlines and series of political firsts needing the courts to adjudicate. BREXIT is COMPLEX.

The questions paraphrase Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London. On BBC Radio 4 The Briefing Room The Perfect Storm: The United Kingdom, Brexit and its History