Polly gets it (far) right

The wholly admirable P Toynbee raises a few uncomfortable issues for we Leavers today by reminding us that the Leave cause is still borne largely by right-wing loonies, while the left-wing case languishes in an important but still largely obscure blog. What a letdown by Labour! 

She begins with comments on the work of the Leave outfit the ERG (European Research Group), or rather with its prominent hate-figures for the petit-bourgeoisie: 'Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg have revealed their fantasy visions of massive unfunded tax cuts and a free market free-for-all. It’s Trumponomics writ large.'

Polly gleefully lists the signs of crisis with only a few minor extensions at first, and then gets to her main point:

All these decades of Europhobia and still no publishable Brexit blueprint. With only 200 days left they had to shelve Jacob Rees-Mogg’s 140-page European Reform Group plan at the last minute. What they came up with is such a raving ragbag of rightwingery that they dare not launch it into the light of day...The recipe is enormous tax cuts, “to give everyone a Brexit bonus”, both households and businesses

With an admirable level of detail, Polly argues the plans are:

All to be paid for with that particular rightwing magic money tree – the Laffer curve – which, Johnson says, proves “that if you cut the right taxes, you can actually increase receipts for government”. This long-discredited theory, so convenient for the rich, has been exploded by the International Monetary Fund – no lefties – which finds that virtually all countries could raise top rates far higher and bring in significant extra sums. The UK could raise top tax to an optimal 60% or more before losing more than it gains.

What about the Brexit bonus?

Some say ...[we get a]... £40bn Brexit bonus when we walk away with no deal, taking our money with us. But if the UK refuses to pay the sum we agree we owe under past contracts, then no deal will mean just that. Renege on our debts [!] and expect no commonsense EU side-deals on essentials, but a crash landing – no aviation, blocked ports, mayhem beyond imagining. Some of these Brexiteers are true revolutionaries who relish the sound of breaking glass.

Surely a tweak too far there, but no matter, we are used to it. Toynbee is on stronger ground when she says that

the loathing of Brussels [is] only an extension of deep-rooted anti-statism [for the lead faces of Leave]...[But then a tweak] Their vision of Britain’s future has no barriers, no regulations, cheap goods, and food from everywhere regardless of chemicals or hormones, regardless of the destruction of our farming and manufacturing

In terms of domestic politics: 'contempt for the Irish runs deep in the Tory right’s DNA. Brexit is a belief, a culture, a tic, an instinct, racist in many of its manifestations.'  The usual extensioons and smears there then. 

What can we do? Oddly -- support Chequers! Remainer luvvies really are being forced into May's bed for fear of something worse.

So some undeniably good points but again, a massive extension from Tory right-wingers to 'Brexit' , as if somehow Johnson and Rees-Mogg lead the ERG and the ERG leads the 52%, and it is not just an irrelevant struggle for most people between the Westminster tribes mentioned in Behr's article (blogpost below). Free trade must mean no regulation of standards. Refusal to accept the EC's belated interest in the Irish question means contempt for the Irish. The EC and the UK Government are not at fault for having no detailed plans for Brexit. The EC has been wholly beneficial in its support for UK industry and trade. A crash out will mean no planes flying and general mayhem [she forgot the price of strawberries] -- for ever.