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Brexit won't save the planet

Brexit isn't an ideal. It might break the cosy economic and political illusion that all growth and trade is good. But there is little thinking behind it. It won't lead to better trade. It won't save our planet.



No plan for Brexit

The UK is  now just months away from leaving the European Union, yet still the government has no plan for Brexit. Sector after sector of British society are registering their concerns about the consequences of a 'no deal' Brexit.  The country is in the dark about what the future might hold.  Key issues remain unresolved, yet it is as if it doesn't matter.   Brexit, remember, means Brexit!  

Whether we are for or against Brexit we should be concerned that the government can't agree on what kind of deal they want with our biggest trading partner - the European Union.  

There is no idealism behind Brexit, and no vision for the future.  Instead, there is a blind hope that it will be 'alright on the night'.  That somehow all the concerns will appear to have been unwarranted. After all, Britain is great!  

There is no plan for Brexit.  There never was.  Yet, debate has been shut down.  Politicians appear as if in a straight jacket.  The 'will of the people' trumps all.  Let's not question Brexit!. 

No Brexit idealism

Some good might have come out of Brexit.  It certainly challenges the cosy mythologies of global trade and growth.  But without a plan for trade, Britain is likely to sign up to trade deals that are more polluting and more damaging to the planet than those it is already signed up to.  

Brexit would be good if it genuinely challenged the neoliberal mythologies of the inherent goodness of growth and free trade.   But it doesn't.  We are more likely to sign up to trade deals that are worse for the planet.   

Bad trade will kill the planet

That is not to say that our current trade is good.  It isn't.  It is bad.  We import goods thousands of miles.  Our government proudly boasts that the UK is meeting targets on emissions.  Yet, it is based on our exporting our pollution.   Exporting pollution doesn't help the planet.  It blinds us to its realities.  

Hundreds of thousands of children die globally from the pollution of the air they breath.  Pollution that comes in some part from the production of the goods we import.  

We need a new deal.  A recent report showed that pollution was responsible for 1 in 5 infant deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The  children of our planet need a new deal - a deal that provides a better future.   Brexit is not only a distraction, it is more likely than not to promote worse trade deals as regulations slips.

Britain, post-Brexit, is more likely to prostitute itself in the markets of world trade as it scurries around trying to salvage something out of the lunacy of leaving the EU without a plan.

Brexit provides no solution, and could make it worse as we seek new deals predicated on more pollution.   Brexit won't save the planet.

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