
Customs union was the Condorcet winner of the first Brexit indicative vote - iainmerrick
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10uJmlRuK8DzDgjhJ4tYgbhvo6dsVP41OEyKIY6dcWs0/edit?usp=sharing
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iainmerrick
Last week's Brexit indicative votes were widely reported as a failure, but I
think that's unfair. The idea was always to _indicate_ which directions might
have support, not to magically resolve the dispute. For example, the SNP, Lib
Dems and Independent Group all abstained on the "soft Brexit" options, because
they prefer a second referendum, but they'd clearly prefer a soft Brexit over
no deal.

I made a spreadsheet that interprets the indicative votes as preferences, Aye
/ Abstain / No → 1st / 2nd / 3rd, and compares all the motions head-to-head
against each other.

It turns out that “customs union” is the clear winner, beating every other
motion head to head. “Public vote” is narrowly second, and there's a clear
rank ordering of the remaining options -- no rock-paper-scissors cycles.

I think this shows that last week's indicated votes _were_ useful, and we
_could_ see some real progress in the second round of voting this evening, as
long as MPs are willing to make reasonable compromises.

