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So after a decade; the UK strategy is to avail of an ERM II loophole and try and deceive the EU into thinking it is serious about joining. The EU needs to shut off the ERM II loophole to all future members.

Why? EU seems happy to allow five countries to use it. If it benefits both sides to join why is adoption of the Euro a block. FoM I can see as an obstacle, but not the Euro.

FoM, the Euro, and Schengen are EU membership criteria. If you don't like the club rules - forget about joining the club. The club isn't for you, and the club isn't going to change to facilitate you.

Except that that hasn't been the philosophy with previous joiners so there's no clear reason why it would be this time - especially since the EU will be more concerned about us staying in and insisting on things that are usually fudged makes that harder.

I think you are the one doing UK exceptionalism here - I am suggesting that the same sort of calculus will apply for the UK as with other applicants.

No new joiner is getting an optout of those anymore, and yes the experience with the UK is the reason. Also Schengen is literally larger than the EU now (missing Cyprus and Ireland for obvious reasons but incl Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.) Of course Euro introduction cd be very postponeable.

But you're mot getting any accession talks to even start withput committing to introducing it eventually, both because it's the rules and because of your history. Absolutely nobody has a stomach for the UK as it behaved in its last decades of membership.

The only significant difference is that they won't want us to join and leave again, which means there's more chance of an application being rejected outright if they think that's a risk, but also means that if they do want us in then they won't want to do things to make that more likely.

It is wholly unrealistic that UK can prove it won’t Hokey Cokey when the two right wing parties who collectively poll around 45% are still pro Brexit. You need a combination of an enormous majority pro EU and lack of opinion volatility. And that’s before we get to FN and AfD getting into power!

No, that's a fundamental misunderstanding of political and public opinion in the EU. We don't want disruprive and exceptionalist members who unddrmine our unity and don't believe in our project.