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.
- ISBN13 9780993353192
- Publish Date 11 June 2020
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Green House
- Format Paperback
- Language English