ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to replace the unreal economic optimism of the Brexiteers about new trade agreements and competitive success with a more sober political optimism about the possibility of a new settlement based on radical social innovation in non-tradeable activities. It takes up corollary economic argument, which is that the Brexit vote of 2016 came out of the way that the political classes and large sections of the electorate and masses were living in different economies. Building on this proposition, the chapter turns to the technocrats and their expert economic modelling of the effects of Brexit before the vote. Against this, it argues that the economic and political future of the United Kingdom now depends not on the one economy, but on the performance and management of part of the economy. The chapter also argues that the mainstream economic debate is about the performance of the tradeable goods and services sector after Brexit, where renaissance is highly unlikely.
