Brexit: Remainer explains the problem with putting ‘no-deal’ on the ballot in a People’s Vote

The Brexit debate grows more binary by the day.

With Boris Johnson’s government increasingly pushing for a no-deal Brexit, and some pro-Remain MPs pushing for a “government of national unity” to form and hold a People’s Vote, the options presented to us are increasingly divergent.

With the ERG looking like a distant old friend under the new “reign of terror” under Vote Leave’s Dominic Cummings, any talk of a moderate Brexit from the Conservative leadership is now little more than a smokescreen tactic employed in order to push us over the Halloween deadline.

As a result, it looks very possible that in a People’s Vote, Remain vs ‘no-deal’ would be the binary choice offered to the electorate.

Remain campaigner Femi Oluwole took to Twitter to explain why, actually, putting no-deal on the ballot would make zero sense.

He points out that Brexiteers often say that crashing out with no deal is just a way of eventually getting a free trade deal, "without the attached politics", to quote Nigel Farage.

Therefore, Femi alleges, any second referendum campaign pushing a 'no-deal Brexit' would very likely spend much of their time hypothesising about the amazing deal we could eventually get, without having to offer any concrete plans - sound familiar? - and wouldn't actually move things forward at all.

And the reality is, that the current deal Brexiteers are so dismissive of, is likely the best we're ever going to get.

Describing the 2016 campaign as "fighting on ice" Femi explains his concerns:

 The reason why the 2016 referendum was so bad is because…every time you criticised one version of Brexit, the Leave side would say ‘Don’t worry, we’ll do Brexit in a different way’.

…It was a mess.

He argues that given no-deal is temporary, there’s no guarantee that people will like the eventual deal more than staying in the EU.

So once again you’ll have Nigel Farage saying that we’ll have this great deal with the EU if only you vote his way...

Essentially Femi is saying that a ballot pitting no-deal against EU membership would be as useless, divisive and insubstantial as in 2016. Simply put, if we accept a no-deal then we're simply moving ourselves into a period of time full of even more uncertainty.

He asserts:

...If you don’t get what that would do to this country, step aside.

Essentially Femi is saying that a ballot pitting no-deal against EU membership would be as useless, divisive and insubstantial as in 2016. Simply put, if we accept a no-deal then we're simply moving ourselves into a period of time full of even more uncertainty.

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