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The quest for a successful Brexit (or how to find silver unicorns)

Martin McKee
Professor Martin McKee

Professor Martin McKee will deliver this talk entitled 'The quest for a successful Brexit (or how to find silver unicorns)'.

This talk will attempt to bring an element of reality to the debate on Brexit. The talk will highlight four main threats to health: no money; no workers (health, agriculture and others); government failure; and civil disorder related to increasing xenophobia and nationalism. It will challenge several fundamental misconceptions that are prevalent in the UK media and political discourse.

First, it will review the accumulating evidence that British ministers fundamentally misunderstand how the EU works and are completely unprepared for what is happening, illustrating this with a series of concrete and extremely alarming examples. Second, it will point out that the term “negotiations” is misleading. Instead, it is a quest to minimise the damage within the clear legal framework set out in the EU treaties. Third, it will show how the UK position displays massive optimism bias. The outcome cannot be better than the status quo but, if the British were willing to give up some of their “red lines” the damage might be limited. It will conclude by asking not “can Brexit be stopped” but rather “can the UK government avoid catastrophe?”

 

Use this link to watch the talk live, or afterwards

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Free to attend and open to all, but registration via Eventbrite is required.

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