Chancellor Kern: UK should pay 60 Bio. € (Br)exit-fee

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm the first to say that leaving the EU must have consequences and that the UK can't expect to pull out of the things they don't like while keeping all the things they like. But framing this in terms of "punishing" the UK is utterly counterproductive and will only play to the Tories' advantages, by helping them deflect the blame for Brexit's consequences on muh evil brussels Eurocrats, rather than on their own lies.

Voters need to see that their choice is respected - and all the repercussions from Brexit are the result of this choice, not some kind of revenge from spiteful technocratic overlords.

[Antonio the Sixth]

May then hemms and hawws for a while after the referendum, and then when she asks Brussels to reiterate "take it or leave it", she "decides" to "respect the will of the people" and un-invokes Article 50.

Except you can't do that. Once Article 50 is triggered you automatically get out within two years, no matter what.