Another Brexit is Possible: Strategy for Brexit in the era of COVID-19 and climate chaos: Build resilience and security through greater national self-sufficiency together with

This report goes beyond the simple arguments of Leave and Remain to look at what sort of Brexit we need to be able to tackle the future weather disasters which we can expect on a massive scale, as well as future pandemics. Consider the alternatives: two have been suggested by the Government. One is a deal with President Trump, likely to be a one-sided deal because the UK’s economic bargaining strength is obviously far less than that of the USA or the EU. The other is to operate across the world as a tax haven, undercutting both the USA and EU in terms of environmental, labour, and corporate standards. In the report it is argued that either of these would be disastrous in a crisis – possibly leaving us being unable to feed ourselves and without access to medical supplies. Economic globalisation has made our economy fragile: the massive movement of goods around the planet in long ‘just-in-time’ supply chains are not resilient in the face of a crisis. Therefore, the report argues Another Brexit is Possible – one in which we build a robust economy, resilient in the face of crises. One which builds national, regional and local self-sufficiency. This would result in a less economically globalised world, but this world does not mean a more Balkanised or nationalistic world. It would be a globalised local world: a world in which information, intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom needs to be shared freely (e.g. the scientific and practical learning occurring in different countries during the coronavirus pandemic) but simultaneously a world in which production, commodities, and people should be largely non-global. A world of returning largely to the local for material things and making truly global the non-material. A globalised local world really does get the best of both worlds. That is what this report has sought to outline: how Brexit can be a big move away from the normalisation of hyper-trade-globalisation without being retrograde.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements iv Preface 1 Summary 2 Summary of Recommendations 2 1 Introduction 5 2 Setting the scene 5 2.1 Globalisation 5 2.2 2016: A rise in populism with Trump and Brexit 8 2.3 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic 10 2.4 The current situation 10 2.5 Making trade deals outside the EU 12 3 Brexit: the options 13 4 Another Brexit is possible 16 4.1 Changing the structure of the UK economy 17 4.2 Localisation 19 4.3 Environment, food, agriculture and health 21 4.4 Promoting global cooperation 24 5 Conclusion: Brexit as a project of fitting into the post-coronavirus world 27 Appendix 1: The EU and some of its problems 29 Appendix 2: Migration 31

About the Author :
Rupert Read is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, an author, a blogger, and a climate and environmental campaigner. He was one of the founders of Green House and formerly was its chair. Emma Dawnay is a Cambridge science graduate with a passion for economics, having experienced first-hand the dot-com boom/bust whilst being taught traditional economics. She is a member of Green House’s core group.