The SimPol Solution

Brexiteers don't actually know why they want to leave the EU - that's manifestly obvious when you ask them for the benefits of leaving, which are either contortions of logic or mere repetitions of debunked Leave.EU misinformation and propaganda.

It's also obvious that the desire to leave is visceral and had nothing whatsoever to do with logic. For many it's a reaction to a feeling of being disenfranchised and left out of the benefits of 'globalisation'. There has been little or no benefit to them and, despite most of their problems being directly attributable to domestic policy, they can't blame Labour, as they've not been in power for over 10 years, and they can't blame the Tory Party, as they're mainly Tory voters themselves. Instead they are directed toward scapegoating the EU by cynical manipulators representing the worst aspects of that very globalisation they hate - free market neoliberalism dressed up as nationalism.

Nationalism is no answer and the suggestions of the Ultra Brexiteers like Jacob Reed-Mogg - such as dropping all tariffs - represent globalism on steroids, from which none but a few will benefit, and certainly not those at the bottom of the pile. While they are diverting their ire at the EU, they are incapable of seeing who the real culprits are - those very globalists who are pushing and funding the Brexit campaign.

The concept of the sovereign, national state is a myth in this milieu - globalism is here to stay, whether we like it or not. It's a paradigm shift, a bit like the move from the hunter gatherer system to farming or the Industrial Revolution, afforded by the revolution in communications. Nation states are not the autonomous entities we believe them to be. They are subject to The Market and there's hardly a policy decision that's made which is not in response to The Market, rather than voter pressure.

Global competition between nation states drives the desire to (and policy of) cutting taxes for large corporations, such as Amazon and Google, who can shift their money from one location to another as easy as we can change our socks. Those who suffer from this movement of global capital are the ordinary taxpayers, who have to shoulder the shortfall or lose jobs when a global corporation ups sticks and moves to a more tax-advantageous jurisdiction.

It's a necessity, despite us moaning at politicians and railing at these large multinationals or bankers. They are operating to their internal rules and drivers, which set country against country and multinational against multinational in a destructive cycle from which none can escape. They can't afford to be ethical or green, as this costs money which makes them uncompetitive in a global market, and if they're not competitive and growing then they become ripe for takeovers or go bankrupt.

The global and unhindered movement of capital can only work for the worker if the worker is also free to move globally to follow the money. Static workforces - which are the majority - suffer. Brexit represent a 100% static workforce as the Freedom of Movement around Europe will be curtailed.

Almost all solutions to the great problems of our age, whether climate change, hunger, poverty, wage inequality, cannot be solved so long as we remain in competition on a national basis. What is required is global or regional regulatory alignment (currently a pertinent phrase with regard to the EU) and all countries to agree on a common policy - rather like international football is facilitated by all countries agreeing to apply a common set of rules by which all abide.

The phrase used to describe this new method of government is SimPol, or Simultaneous Policy, where all countries agree to a set of common objectives, brooking no dissent, and agree to implement them simultaneously so as not to disadvantage a single country. The Market is powerless against this strategy as there is no hiding place.

The above is not my idea, but one described in a book I'm currently reading - The SimPol Solution. I'm only half way through and it makes a great deal of sense thus far.

In a way, the EU is the progenitor of such a system of government; money can freely move between countries of the EU but, crucially, so can the workers; it is looking at the manner in which large multinationals are taxed and, crucially for the neoliberals, it's looking at the use of tax havens. As I said above, Brexit, and especially a hard Brexit, is neoliberal globalism on steroids.