I was discussing what may happen in the future with a still convinced Brexiter. He maintained that we couldn’t know for certain what lies ahead. There is a small piece of truth in that, which I will talk about later. But what it amounted to is that the ideas being proposed by leading Brexiters, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg are to be explored using the country as a great experimental test. The idea is to find out what happens to a country when you remove as much regulation as you can, in order to free up the full benefits an unregulated system can provide.

The phrase used to give a partial explanation of this is the ‘Singapore Solution’. The first problem I have with that is that Brexiters are not good on detail. They also seem to reject any scientific method and the constraints necessary to conduct a meaningful experiment. But, whilst they fail to provide detail, they make up for this deficiency with phrases designed to elicit an emotional and nationalistic response, like ‘the will of the people’.

Now a very brief word about Singapore, a country I have visited but make no pretence to be an expert on. The Singapore government is the major provider of housing. Several generations live in the same apartment and family ties are strong. Government spending is lower than the UK because health care, education and pensions are not nearly so comprehensive as those in Europe. They also have a very large body of foreign workers. You can find that all out on Wikipedia.

So it doesn’t look like a particularly close match to the UK in terms of demographics. It is also bang slap in the middle of the most dynamic industrial area in the world, not thousands of miles away. But let me not be too critical of the experiment here. There may be a chance that Hereford FC, (my local team), win the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 8 – 0 in the final. It is a possibility, if only an outside one. People who study statistics would tell you that the result is extremely unlikely to happen, but it remains a possibility. I wouldn’t bet on it.

If I fell off my bike and broke my arm I would much prefer to see a qualified doctor than a friend of your mate down the pub who is a really good plumber. There are times when you need experts. In the case of the Great Brexit Experiment, almost all the people who know what they are talking about think it is a very bad idea. But just as you can always get Nigel Lawson to appear on a debate about climate change, despite utter ignorance, you can always find a tame self-professed expert to spout on about things they are unqualified to talk about.

Maybe that is unfair, as Prof. Patrick Minford and his acolytes suggest that the regulation free solution will enrich the country, though at the expense of all manufacturing industry and only after several years of serious hardship. The Brexiters are to a man and woman loathe to provide any detail about the experiment, but one of their heroes, Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested that the period before the benefit is felt might be as long as fifty years. That is two entire generations. That is at the time when my grandchildren will be coming up to retirement and I will be long dead.

The approved method of experimentation is to produce a set of predicted results before starting. I am still waiting to see what these predicted results are. All I get is, ‘Taking back control’. Somehow I don’t find that substitution either reasonable or comforting.

But the experiment is still due to go ahead, and will be performed on the population of the country. Which means that you and me and all our families and friends will act as lab rats in this experiment. Another requirement of testing on animals is that the rodents be as near to genetically identical as possible to ensure that the results are meaningful. But us pesky citizens come in all shapes and sizes, and ages. We have different family groups and ways of living. We are not just citizens, we are individuals, and one size definitely does not fit all.

The experiment will be carried out on everyone from new-borns to those at the end of their lives, in all stations of society. We will be the lab rats in the experiment, and we know what happens to rodents involved in experiments. It isn’t pleasant.

The experimenters will reassure you that it is all worthwhile, that it will all turn out well in the end, with a bit of ‘Dunkirk spirit’. What they will never provide is any hard evidence about why the experiment needs to take place with you as the subject. They care no more about you than they do for lab rats. They make no connection between ‘for the good of the country’ and what is good for the people who live in the country.

What they are proposing in this experiment is that regulation will be removed and government spending will be cut. Those hated regulations are about safety at work, environmental protection and safe food. Those are the regulations which will go. As government spending is cut you can expect lower state pensions, poorer services and having to pay for part of your children’s education. It will assuredly mean the end of the NHS as you know it.

Of course they don’t tell you this. But you will get those warm words of reassurance as they close the laboratory door.