Above is a clip from Brexit the Movie. It's an abortion. The classic old fashioned whinge about regulation. Where they get their figures from god only knows but this knee-jerk phobia of regulation completely ignores the need for them, the origin of them and the process by which they come about. Unsurprising that Mark Littlewood of the IEA puts his name to the kipperish nonsense. The point of course is entirely lost on the producers...
Having been furnished with Flexcit and a number of blog posts on the globalisation of regulation it seems they have not read any of it much less understood it - or why the globalisation of regulation is pivotal to this whole debate. What's the point of blethering about getting our seat at the top tables back if you have zero intention of using the rules?
The point is very simple. Global markets need global regulation and increasingly the EU is a redundant middleman but one that still takes our vote and removes our right of veto. That makes us powerless in the emergence of a global single market which is overtaking the European Union. That is the substance behind the "going global" rhetoric.
Instead of a thorough exploration of the issue we get the bog standard eurosceptic whinge that "regulation is baaaaad" which ultimately leads to the sort of kipperish bent banana histrionics which so undermines our credibility.
And comes with that is the nonsense about making our own laws. Why do we want to replicate the bureaucracy in the formulation of standards for toasters? And why should they not be energy efficient? And who really gives a shit? Who is going to go to the barricades over that?
The point of leaving the EU is to ensure we have proper rights in the creation of these rules and that we have a veto if required. To just bleat about "EU regulations" is to completely discount the reality that the EU does not make most of its regulations, which is why it's probably the least qualified to offer comment on how many there actually are.
What we have from Martin Durkin is a piece of naff classic eurosceptic propaganda that wouldn't even pass muster in 1990 let alone 2016. And while he is enjoying the adulation of the eurosceptic blob, opinion formers will be watching with both amusement and dismay.
And because they missed the point on regulation they have also missed the point on technical barriers to trade and that's why they can offer up the ridiculous notion that we can quit the EU and not bother with trade deals. The whole film is entirely issue illiterate and if Vote Leave is refusing to plug it then that's the first sensible decision they have made. Though likely that would not be out of any genuine concern for the poor quality of this film, rather that it did not originate from within the ever shrinking Vote Leave bunker.
And though I will get flack for calling this trash out for what it is, it really does matter to say so because these classic mantras from the eurosceptic blob are exactly what the opposition have been preparing to argue. Brexit the Movie was an opportunity to shift the debate onto entire new grounds but instead is ultimately a wankfest for the eurosceptic luvvies.
From the outset I said we would need to ditch the Eurosceptic baggage and the obsolete mantras but the blob is far too wedded to its shallow narratives to look beyond and see that the world has changed and not much would function without this regulation. We have been using these same tired arguments since 1975 and they have won us no new ground. All it does is prove that we are dinosaurs with petty whinges about obscure things that nobody cares about.
Brexit the Movie could have been pioneering. It could have been a massive asset in setting out the case for greater global engagement and it could have proved, by way of pointing out that EU rules are now global rules, that Brexit is safe for business. Instead we got the jingoistic overly optimistic bombast, not that far removed from what we hear from Boris Johnson.
It answers no questions about the risks of Brexit and does not in any way reassure serious minded people. It is a wholly shallow, trivialising piece of work that does nothing to push the boundaries - it's preaching to the converted and as a piece of strategic propaganda is completely worthless. The fact that Ukippers love it tells you everything you need to know.
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