Four days after Brexit, is there any way back?
A petition calling on MPs to overturn last week’s Brexit decision is up to 3.3m signatures and counting. Young people, three-quarters of whom voted to stay, have turned to social media to voice anger and dismay that their future has been decided by retired baby boomers. Former prime minister Tony Blair has suggested a second referendum is possible and, with financial markets shaky and Brussels already closing doors on Britain, buyer’s remorse may well spread. So could the nation change its mind? Is there any way back? Well, anything is possible, but, as things stand, one can make only two statements with confidence. And, no, they are not consistent.
The first is that the Brexiters are about to discover that unravelling Britain’s relationship with the EU will be costly and hugely disruptive. Politically, legally and constitutionally it will be immeasurably harder than imagined in the bluff statements of Outers such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.