A June 2017 YouGov poll found that an astounding 55% of people say they believe in Theresa May's "no deal is better than a bad deal" rhetoric.
It should be absolutely obvious to anyone who thinks about it for themselves that such rhetoric is obviously designed to prepare public opinion for a socially and economically ruinous Tory flounce away from the Brexit negotiating table.
"No deal is better than a bad deal" clearly just a rhetorical device to make a really bad idea look like a good idea.
It will be put into action when the Tories and their cheerleaders in the right-wing press begin presenting every single EU position in the negotiations as a "bad deal", then switching people back into the rote learned mantra that "no deal is better than a bad deal" in order to make their absolutely catastrophic "no deal" strop look like a good idea!
If you think this sounds to bonkers to be true, consider the fact that the Tories have been briefing the right-wing press since early May that they're planning a "no deal" hissy fit.
Their nickname for this "no deal" strategy: "The nuclear option"!
12 reasons "no deal" is a really bad idea
Here are 12 reasons a "no deal" strop away from the negotiating table would be a complete catastrophe for jobs and the economy.
- A no deal flounce would mean 40% import/export tariffs on food and agricultural produce (meaning a tax increase on 97% of UK food and drink exports).
- Manufacturing sector supply lines would be ruined (over 50% of our manufactured goods go to the EU).
- A "no deal" flounce would trigger an even bigger recession than the 2007-08 bankers' crisis (C.E.P. estimate).
- A "no deal" strop would cause hundreds of thousands of UK job losses as the manufacturing, export/import businesses, aviation, shipping, financial services, hospitality and tourism, agriculture, and public sector all face up to problems like tariffs and the "no deal" economic meltdown.
- The Tories have already set out a plan to turn the UK into a low-wage, low-skill corporate tax haven when they launch "the nuclear option".
- Walking away from the negotiations would mean abandonment of all UK-EU agreements on stuff like air travel, consumer protection, national security.
- A Tory "no deal" flounce would result in terrifying uncertainty for EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in Europe.
- Travel rights for all UK citizens would be affected by the chaotic abandonment of free movement (work visas, travel visas, immigration fees ...).
- Without a negotiated settlement the Irish border problem would flare up and risk the Good Friday Agreement.
- The UK border agency, airports and shipping industry would be totally screwed by the need for customs checks.
- The Scottish would be insane not to quit the UK under such chaotic circumstances.
- The UK would obviously become an international pariah for wilfully triggering a global recession. We know that Theresa May and the Tories are planning this. If we vote to allow her to crash the global economy, the rest of the world won't just blame her, they'll blame us for wilfully enabling her to do it.
So why are people falling for it?
Obviously some people are actually extreme Brexit enthusiasts who consider economic ruination a price worth paying in order to build as many social and economic barriers between the UK and the continent as possible, but the polls put this fanatically anti-European demographic at somewhere between 25% to 30%.
This means that around half of the 55% of people who say they believe in Theresa May's "no deal is better than a bad deal" propaganda device actually understand that a "no deal" strop is an appalling idea, but somehow they like the sound of the propaganda device that has been deliberately coined in order to make an extreme Tory "no deal" almost inevitable.
It's hard not to conclude that these people are just cognitively lazy political sleepwalkers who say they agree with the propaganda device simply because they've heard it so many times they're familiar with it, and they've never even bothered to submit the phrase to the remotest level of critical scrutiny that's required to see it for what it is.
This means that around half of the 55% of people who say they believe in Theresa May's "no deal is better than a bad deal" propaganda device actually understand that a "no deal" strop is an appalling idea, but somehow they like the sound of the propaganda device that has been deliberately coined in order to make an extreme Tory "no deal" almost inevitable.
It's hard not to conclude that these people are just cognitively lazy political sleepwalkers who say they agree with the propaganda device simply because they've heard it so many times they're familiar with it, and they've never even bothered to submit the phrase to the remotest level of critical scrutiny that's required to see it for what it is.
Conclusion
Theresa May's "no deal is better than a bad deal" catchphrase is clearly and obviously a simple Eurosceptic propaganda device designed to switch people into thinking that a catastrophic "no deal" strop away from the negotiating table is a better option than any kind of negotiated settlement.
The consequences of failing to reach a Brexit deal would be terrible for the UK. And under a Tory government most of the terrible consequences would obviously fall most heavily on the poorest and most vulnerable, while the government concentrates all of their efforts on protecting the wealth of the super-rich elitists who totally bankroll their party.
The really alarming thing is that the constant repetition of this "no deal is better than a bad deal" propaganda trope has resulted in 55% of people thinking they actually agree with it, when anyone who actually thinks about it, just for a few moments, surely has to be able to see it as the simple rhetorical propaganda trick that it is?
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