Great Repeal Balloney

People let you know when they don't like regulations - Boston Tea Party

One of the symbolic regulations that the American colonists objected to was a tax  on tea.  This was used to good effect in the Boston Tea Party.  Symbols like this are important and go a long way to frame the narrative of historical events.  And so now the plucky Brits have thrown off their EU yoke one of the first things they are going to do is to repeal the most hated regulation with which the Brussels bureaucrats have been oppressing them.  We all know what that is don't we?


Of course we don't.

There isn't any particular EU regulation that causes widespread indignation.  The closest is I suppose the one about bendy bananas.  But that can't be repealed because Boris made it up.  But politics is about theatre so we are to be treated to the great repeal bill.  I don't know if this has been deliberately contrived or if there is indeed some technical reason why all the regulations that have been passed into law now need to be retrospectively confirmed.  What I do know is that the entire point is that the bill is not intended to have any actual effect on what we do on a day to day basis.  The Brexit camp's leading smirkmonkey Daniel Hannan has explained that we can later go through them and decide which ones we want to keep at our leisure.  He doesn't say which ones.

So basically this is being spun as something big when it is nothing more than a confirmation that EU regulations are not really that big a deal.  One something is objectionable you don't park dealing with it.  When Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo we didn't keep him on running France while we decided what to do about it.  The Berlin Wall wasn't kept in place until new arrangements could be made.  By contrast, Brexit seems to be about keeping things as similar as possible to how they were before.

The people who carp on about sovereignty and making Britain great again ought to be really angry about this bill.  Think about its implications.  Brussels regulations are still in force, and will be upheld by the UK courts.  Precedents from the European Court will still be valid.  Basically nothing has changed.  If there really was a groundswell of feeling against European regulations the government would now be facing rebellions from people desperate to start doing whatever it is the current rules are stopping them from doing.  In particular, look at the notion that regulations are stifling trade.  Where are the people standing in front of empty factories bemoaning the lost sales that the current rules are causing.

This bill just reveals that the objection to EU regulations was always a complete fantasy.  Nobody likes having to follow regulations, but every country in the world has them. You can't live a decent life, run a sound business or keep the world clean and safe without them.  The EU's are no worse than anyone else's.   In fact the consensual way in which they are written probably makes them the least worst set.  The bill that 'repeals' them is pretty much a confirmation that everyone with any sense knew this all along.

But nonetheless I am pleased about it for two reasons.  In the short run it is great ammunition to use against the feeble minded.  Secondly, think how easy this will be to reverse when we rejoin.