'Brexit' and The Frustrating Subterfuge of Career Politics

'Brexit' has become the politically-fetishised noun of the year. We hear it everywhere; in fact, I doubt we would even double take if we came downstairs in the morning and Mother declared that there's "cereal or toast for Brexit".

The EU Referendum is a fundamental turning point in the trajectory of domestic and European politics, and it is legitimately placed at the forefront of current debate amongst the electorate and the cabinet. The consequence of June 23rd will be felt nationwide and globally, and we are quite right to be debating the motion vehemently (though most of this has been done through Facebook memes and 'Brexit banter'; such is the modern era).

Of course, most of us are well aware of the impetus behind the two camps in the Brexit narrative - or Brarrative, as we all seem to love placing the prefix on pretty much everything we say, or write, ever - which concerns the notion of parliamentary sovereignty, red-tape bureaucracy, trade negotiation, the single market, top-down authority from Brussels and a plethora of other almost objectively defined criteria (although not quite). The issue is, nobody - despite the noble efforts of bloggers, politicians, Dawn (your elderly neighbour who forgot her door key yesterday) or that UCL guy who walks down Tottenham Court Road wearing a tank top, swinging a canvas bag with his right arm, on which is written (arial bold size 16) 'I'M IN!' - knows the facts of the case. This isn't due to laziness or for lack of trying, it is simply that Britain leaving the EU is both a highly contentious and contended issue. It is certainly more complex than the headline arguments that both young In and Out advocates plaster around Facebook with hashtags and statistics that mostly lack their sources.

The effects of leaving the EU will probably be felt predominantly in the context of UK markets and trade agreements. Just how these effects will manifest themselves - given the complex forest that is EU-UK trade deals - is pretty hard to say, however. The second important impact of saying farewell or maybe cul8r (Cameron's finally mastered short-hand texting) for the UK will arguably affect the free movement of people and commodities (inherently related to the former point, obviously). Again, the contention that pulling out of the EU will render UK citizens working in EU member states susceptible to an immobilisation - in terms of free labor movement - is also far from black and white.

Other hot items on the Brexit agenda have been immigration, solidarity, peace, migration, counter-terrorism and above all (mostly thanks to old Boris), SOVEREIGNTY. The sovereignty argument, as you will probably know a priori, is basically a push towards taking back some of the power into UK hands that Brussels wields (although when this power was stolen, I'm not quite sure; possibly during the London Riots?). For the most part, this argument revolves around the idea of Brussels controlling a significant percentage of UK legislative influence domestically, which inevitably goes against the other fetishised concept (predominantly amongst the Tory cabinet) of English Votes for English laws (though we should really say 'UK laws' in a Brexit climate, as we really don't want another bloody Scottish referendum). Inherent in this idea is that the Executive in Parliament should be top of the legislative food chain; a bit like a huge, nationalist shark, I guess.

Whatever the outcome of our votes, it is unlikely that we will see our country torn apart or fall into shatters. The effects - whether major or negligible - of leaving, would be felt in subsequent years, naturally depending on whether our boys in the Cabinet and the European Commission can decide on what Article 50 actually implies for anyone involved.

In summary, and it is unfortunate that I should end on this political note, the Brexit dialogue has been - although probably not intended to be - a large 4x4 vehicle for politicians to manoeuvre their next step on the UK political race course; and I think it is more than safe to say that Boris Johnson wants Cameron's parking spot.