UK General Election 2017

[Furunculus]

How much has Scotland to do with it? Not much. It will certainly be handy if it ends up SNP 48 (<11), Labour 8 (>7), Lib-Dems 3 (>2), Tory 1 (NC), when brexit finalises and talk of indyref 2.0 comes aroun.

Mainly it is about securing May a mandate to negotiate brexit, not subject to the tory nutters and the remain nutters.
The biggest threat a decent brexit (soft), is the chaos in the british political system as it pulls the gov't one way or another. The eu will prefer it too, having a stable negotiating party on the other side of the table. It also gives May the political capital she'll need to spend in order to make compromises.

Does "soft" mean EEA/Efta? No, that is the Remain mistake in seeking easy answers, just as the tory nutters want a 'clean break', because it's simple. It isn't a simple problem, and it will require clear heads and good will to get it right. Soft brexit means strong an enduring links to the EU post brexit, not EEA/Efta per-se. But that doesn't mean being a rule taker (in the vernancular of the debate), under the judicial activism of the ECJ. It means sectoral jurisdiction and equivalence in regulatory regimes.

The final point is that it will persuade the numerous EU parties (commision/council/parliament/national-gov't) that brexit is happening, and so persuade them them to look for the best deal. As long as half the stakeholders think britain can be brought round with some tough talk, they have little incentive to bargain honestly. Not just chaos on the british side, but the EU side too. A 100 seat majority won on the letter she sent to tusk last month will quieten the lunatics on both sides.

The quiet threat that doing us over will lead to singapore-on-steroids, is useful. Not to be made again publicly, but clearly understood. We saw exactly how fruitful cameron's renegotiation was when he started it with a promise to campaign for in:
C - So, we'd like a new deal, what can we do?
E - Well.... you can have this.
C - That's not very good, we can do better than that, surely!
E - Why do we care? You're campaigning to stay in, why would we make it more attractive for you to stay out?
C - Oh. :(
Pretty sure that's not in trump's book: The Art of the Deal! :D
So, hardball this time. With a smile.
And the result will almost certainly be a softer brexit than might otherwise be the case.
Sadly, remainers don't really get this point; still lost in a deeply personal grief.