On Brexit Buzzword Bingo

I was corresponding with a USian colleague about the impact of Brexit on our business and offered him some Brexit Buzzwords that he could drop in to conversations in the US so as to appear knowledgable and on the ball.

I offer 15 of them below. Feel free to add your own

1. Article 50 (has not been invoked)


2. Corbynista (#JezzWeCan - equivalent to #FeelTheBern)


3. £350 million


4. Cornwall (voted for Brexit, would like the UK goverment to guarrantee its EU funding)


5. Sewell Convention (the memorandum that lays out the process for changing the devolution settlement for Scotland)


6. Dundalk - Newry crossing - (the bit of the Northern Ireland / Republic of Ireland border with the most traffic - if I recall correctly this is where a senior IRA commander had a farm that literally straddled the border.)


7. Wiff Waff is Coming Home.


8. "Actually I've got €50 onTeresa May becoming PM"


9. The pound, oh my god, the pound.


10. Kubler Ross Grief Cycle


11. "Nicola Sturgeon is perhaps the most astute politician in the UK."


12. #IndyRef2


13. "Actually I've got €50 on Tom Watson becoming Labour Leader."


14. Guardian reading metropolitian liberal elite (you say that as if it's a bad thing)


15. Unwritten constitution.

On the Prospects for Voting Reform in Brexit Ready Britain

Where does  Brexit leave voting reform?

Very difficult to tell. It will depend on the how the cascade of crises we're about to have tumble. That is probably true for many things.

My view is obviously coloured by the fact that I think our poor voting system is one of the contributory factors in the Brexit vote. If you think that I'm an out of touch Guardian reading, metropolitian liberal elite wanker who is part of the problem then my diagnosis is unlikely to be persuasive.

There are I think a number of binary positions to consider that build up to some scenarios.

Brexit either will or will not happen before 2020.

The government either will or will not collapse.

The Labour Party will recognise that it has lost the firm support of many traditional voters or it will not.

Scotland either will or won't become independent.

The Party system either will or won't break down.

As a reaction to the shock to the Party System can progressives or conservaties gather round a vote winning leader or a vote winning platform or not? Are social liberals and economic liberals allied or opposed? Do they converge or diverge?

Amongst that there are some scenarios that favour voting reform or constitutional reform more widely.

For example, the government collapses before Christmas, without Brexit, the Labour Party runs on a manifesto of putting power back in the hands of people with a constitutional convention, electoral reform and regional devolution.

Or the less favourably, the Tories don't implode and quietly don't invoke Article 50, we get to 2020 and the North of England votes for UKIP, Scotland votes for independence, and the Tories continue to run the country just has they have been for the decade before.

I think we need electoral reform but it is difficult to persuade people that it the solution to the problems that they have in their lives because they don't see the connection between voting mechanics and how power is operated and how power is used to apply resources to solve problems.