Play 'Brexit - Deal or No Deal'!

Here’s a fun and not too frivolous resource aimed at provoking discussion and debate about the Brexit negotiation process. It combines the concept behind the popular day-time TV show ‘Deal or No Deal’ with, well, the most important economic and political decision for a generation!

Theresa May’s Brexit speech this week re-iterated something that was probably obvious to many. The whole negotiation process is going to be like a giant game of poker, with each side using rhetoric, bluster and counter-bluster to get the best outcome for their ‘team’. The UK argument appears to be “look, we’re the 5^th largest economy in the world – you can’t afford to cut us adrift with some punitive deal.” We're suggesting that the rest of the EU are throwing away the flip-flops just before they take an 18 mile walk along Chesil Beech.

The EU negotiators, on the other hand, are saying that it just isn’t fair for the UK to have free access to all of the advantages of the most populous free-trade area in the world without accepting some of the principles behind the bloc. The Brits can not have their ‘gateaux’ and ‘mange’ it.

In this activity, your contestant (either an individual, small group or whole class: your choice) is acting as the PM deciding about potential deals that are available. Like the TV show they choose any of the virtual boxes on screen. This will ‘reject’ one of the deals randomly placed in the box. The contestant keeps doing this until they have opened 3 boxes. At this point, the EU chief negotiator will offer a deal based upon what is left available. Your contestant can either ‘Deal’ or ‘No Deal’. A ‘No Deal’ will allow the contestant to continue with the game and await further offers. Can your students get the best deal for the UK? Can they hold their nerve and out-fox the EU chief negotiator? Try the activity 2 or 3 times (the resource randomly selects which deal is in which box).

The questions that can follow include a discussion about some of the topics mentioned in the deals. What is the ‘cliff edge’ that has been talked about? What is a ‘de-regulated Corporation Tax haven’? What is the Single Market and Customs Union? What is the driver for control over the movement of labour – economic or political? What are the two strongest arguments for the ‘hard’ Brexit that Theresa May indicated as the most likely outcome?

Just think, by the time that the negotiations are over all of your current students will have finished their A Levels in Economics!

Download - Brexit Deal or No Deal