Is Brexit Inevitable?

As a pendant to the current European column on the possible geopolitical consequences of Brexit, Futuribles is also publishing this analysis of Brexit seen, as it were, from the inside, asking how the UK government and political parties see exit from the EU and how the outcome of the negotiations is regarded – or might be regarded – by British citizens? Derek Martin reminds us, first of all, of the Brexit referendum’s failings in terms of democratic representativeness and the doubts to which that gives rise regarding the real will of the British people to leave the Union. After presenting the two possible routes argued for by the Brexiteers (“hard” v. “soft” Brexit), and their prospects of success in the negotiations with the EU, Martin shows what disillusionments might arise for the “soft” Brexiteers within the various British political formations. A situation which, as he sees it, might make it possible to reshuffle the deck and open the door to a reversal of the Brexit decision in one of a range of possible ways that he outlines.