Button wrote:Hm. First public opinion, probably across all parts of the UK, would have to change to the extent that support for the Rejoin option is obvious and overwhelming. Second, UK political will would have to change, with loud and wide support for promoting yet another referendum as a Good Idea without castigating the electorate for getting it wrong last time. Then there's the question of EU public opinion and political will. And finally, does one start re-join negotiations before or after a referendum - I would suggest before so that everyone knows what they're voting for or against. Is this all possible? Of course it is. But in my lifetime? That I doubt.
I wouldn't underestimate the effects of demographic change on the equation. Brexiteers are predominantly from the older generation and our young people don't have much time for the shibboleth of detesting freedom of movement. Plans to reduce the voting age to over 16 will accelerate the transformation even further.
Where the real bugbear lies, as you have said, in whether we will be welcomed back and to what extent. The 27 in its current mood will have nothing to do with the UK if they feel the returning presence of the likes of May, Johnson, Truss or Sunak or any of their behind the scenes string pullers.
I'm sure the bloc would welcome a pragmatic re-integration based on trust. They know, as do the rest of the world, that absence from the single market and customs union is an economic drag on the UK when we can least afford it. As Mark Carney so eloquently put it in his speech the other day - we were promised a Singapore on Thames but are heading for an Argentina on the Channel
