The Way We Do Equality is Broken in Two Ways.

Brexit and other populist shocks are a sign that our conception of equality is broken. We need to remake it.

Nearly three years after the June 2016 referendum, Britain’s mission to wrench itself out of the EU is finally coming to a head.

It’s been three years of political stasis and confusion. Meanwhile, every reputable forecast suggests the UK will be poorer once the mission is complete. The British government’s own forecast says that 15 years after Brexit the economy will have shrunk by between 2.5% and 9.3%. For context, the 2009 financial crisis shrunk the British economy by 6.25%.

Now, Theresa May’s failure to get her deal with the EU past parliament means Britain is weeks away from a chaotic ‘no deal’ exit: the kind that will push the country towards the economic worst case scenario. Think a sharp drop in the value of the pound, a spike in unemployment, and rocketing inflation. Searing economic pain, in other words.

But in a YouGov poll published on 22 March, 88% of those who voted Leave in June 2016 say they would do so again.

Mainstream economic theory says that should not happen. People shouldn’t choose to become materially worse off.