Batou667 said:
It's an inexact analogy but yes, suffice it to say I'm getting frustrated by the divisive and obstructionist tactics being employed to undermine any kind of bargaining power we may have retained had we presented a united front. These constant delays and eleventh hour stalling tactics are a maddening waste of time, are contributing to the haemorrhaging Brexit Bill (leaving the EU was supposed to SAVE us money, remember?), and do very little to show a strong hand for the trade agreements we're about to embark on.
What unity? Brexit fundamentally split the country, because 48% never wanted to leave and of the 52% who did, there was never any common vision of what Brexit meant.
What form of Brexit is unfortunately the key issue, and the referendum provided no mandate or guidance for that. So we have soft Brexits and hard Brexits and no Brexits and they're all up there to be fought for.
May accentuated this. She could have had Brexit done and dusted months ago simply by letting Labour into the process. Con and Lab have ~600/650 MPs, and the vast majority of both would have bought some form of soft Brexit (May's deal plus customs union or something similar). But she wanted to pass a Tory Brexit that didn't split her party instead, and her anti-EU hardliners brought her down anyway. Now the hardliners have power, and they want to pass an even more extreme Brexit. They should be resisted to the max, because that's the resistance they absolutely deserve for implicitly telling Remainers, Unionists and soft Brexiters (well over 50% of the country, let's remember) that they can go fuck themselves even more than the last crappy deal.
So you want unity? Complain to the PM that he should put forward a Brexit that has widespread tolerance with the people and Parliament. That's an easy, open goal for anyone (who's not a hardline Euroskpetic).
As for bargaining power, what nonsense. We're a country with about a fifth of the economy of the EU and thus they need us about a fifth as much as we need them. If we go back and ask for a "Norway" type option, we can get it. We can have May's deal plus customs union and have it. We can have May's deal. Johnson wasn't forced to concede anything, he gave it away (and sacrificed the NI unionists to sell it) because he
wants more freedom to deregulate. We can't get all the shit we were promised by Brexiters (like freedom of trade but not movement) pre-referendum because it was never, ever there to be gained - like all that shit they told us about holding all the cards and that negotiations would be easy.
What this "unified front" front weakening our bargaining position argument mostly does is twofold. Firstly, it provides an escape route for Brexiters who thought the EU was weak from having to accept they were wrong. Secondly it brews a toxic betrayal myth that'll keep this country in rancorous division for many years to come.