Theresa May Might Have Outmaneuvered All Her Brexit Critics

To many, this week’s handling of the Brexit saga by the British government has appeared chaotic and inconsistent, leading some to predict the demise of Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership and the risk of the UK stumbling into a disorderly Brexit. That is certainly a possibility. Yet game theory suggests that, with external constraints starting to bind a lot more, the government could well end up using a strategy that allows it to outmaneuver its critics, both within and outside the UK.

As I argued previously using simple insights from game theory, the approach taken by the UK government, including repeated negotiations with Brussels, would succeed in buying time. But, together with the costs and risks of continued long delays in virtually all of the government’s pro-growth work and related legislative agenda, this “no war, no peace” situation would not by itself lead to a sustainable outcome. What was required was either a bold political call within Britain or some binding constraint from outside.