Short thread on @IanDunt’s interesting (and very good) line of argument on @OhGodWhatNowPod talking about the incremental approach to #RejoinEU: 1/

I have been a vocal and passionate opponent of a soft Brexit, BRINO, Norway, EEA/EFTA solution as I see it as unsustainable, democratically outrageous, rule-taker not rule-maker, worst of all worlds. It is all those things, but 2/

that works in both directions. If we go from full EU membership to BRINO then that’s highly unsatisfactory and unsustainable and will only lead to pressure to pull away further. But if we go there from a skinny deal/no deal Jacobin hard Brexit, the momentum is reversed. 3/

Over the next few years, it is inevitable that we will slowly and steadily align ourselves more and more with the EU. The law of gravity still holds, geography is what it is. We will head for errr MIABNA (membership in all but name - profound apols ) 4/

At that point, all logic & momentum points to #RejoinEU - why take all the rules but have none of the say? That’s the moment for a successful grass roots campaign to take us back home. Until then, incremental steps to reverse the direction of travel and get us to MIABNA (yuk) /5

The bigger challenge (I agree with @sturdyAlex) is getting the EU to have us back. So in parallel to incremental (re-)alignment we must pursue reform. Perhaps break-up of UK will help. Either way, we need deep constitutional & electoral reform to equip us for the future. 6/6

PS I’m not saying there is no space for a #RejoinEU movement right now - there absolutely is, and we have to occupy that space. But we mustn’t be naive - it will take time for that to go mainstream. It will though, I’m sure.

Happy Ending! I’ve turned this thread into a blog post to flesh out some of my arguments as to why we need to let go of old Remainer rows and use this hard Brexit as a base camp for our climb back to Rejoining via the refuge of EEA-EFTA. https://ottocr.at/happy-for-efta-after/?preview=true&frame-nonce=76325dac2c