To promoters of Brexit II: Once out, hard to squeeze Genie back into bottle

By Alec Hogg

There’s a clamour among UK elites for a second Brexit referendum, spearheaded by two major newspapers yesterday predicting despite citizens voting 52-48 vote to leave the EU, the UK will not actually depart.

News reports refer to many voters having changed their minds after discovering the "Leave" camp never provided the full story. So, given another chance, they’d apparently vote differently.

Optimism among the propagators of an “Are Your Sure?” recount is contagious – Mr Market has stopped selling Sterling, banking and property shares.

Then again, it is also a predictable reaction from vested interests. Big Government and Big Business have much to lose if the status quo is shaken up. Last week, the unlikely alliance between Eurosceptic free marketeers and anti-immigration nationalists prevailed. Concessions from Brussels might swing some in one of the camps. But sure it’s impossible to please both.

After the Global Financial Crisis, Quantitative Easing, low growth and zero interest rates, most agree the Western World needs a reboot. But now that the UK has pushed that button, aversion to change is surfacing.

Brexit let the genie out of the EU bottle. And as we learnt from the Arab Spring, it’s rather difficult to put him back in.

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