Written by Bryan Gould
This article was first published in BrexitCentral and we re-publish with their and Bryan Gould’s kind permission.
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Amidst all the “shock horror” of recent days, the convolutions of law and constitution and the parliamentary confusion and wrangling, there is one undeniable fact arising from the Brexit saga that should really cause concern: a full three years after the British people voted to leave the EU, a Parliament stuffed full of MPs elected on the promise that they would “respect the result” of the referendum has still failed to deliver on that promise.
Instead, those MPs have contrived to frustrate the will of the people. They have, by implicitly working with EU leaders, made sure that an acceptable exit “deal” is not available, and have then gone further by placing obstacles in the way of departing without a deal – and all this, presumably, in the hope that Brexit can be forestalled and ultimately negated.
These manoeuvrings may have “succeeded” in stymying Brexit so far, and those responsible may hope to avoid any recriminations on the part of that majority who looked to Parliament to act according to their wishes and now feel betrayed; but they will be disappointed: the long-term damage to the principle of representative democracy is incalculable.Even in terms of the immediate objectives of those who have conjured up these delaying tactics, the desired outcome looks likely to prove elusive. Those whose response to defeat for their viewpoint in the referendum has been a rearguard action using these guerrilla tactics do not seem to realise that the difficulties they have helped to engineer in the way of the UK leaving the EU make the eventual departure even more certain.
The ordinary British voter is unlikely to conclude, in the light of the parliamentary difficulties, that Brexit should be abandoned. They are far more likely to see those difficulties as further evidence that EU membership is a burden and constraint that must be removed.
Having decided, after 40 years of membership, that it was a bad idea that had turned out badly, they will see continued EU intransigence over the process of departure as further evidence that – if even leaving cannot be achieved without seeking permission – the sooner we remove the shackles the better.
And it will not have escaped their notice that those who are responsible for delaying Brexit today are the very same people who took us into the whole sorry shambles in the first place. All those bien pensants, those who “know best”, are precisely those who assured us in the 1960s and 1970s that joining the Common Market would usher in a new era of prosperity and national success.
Those of us who warned at the time that the consequences of membership would be anything but beneficial have, sadly, been proved right. There has been no economic revival – only perennial trade deficits and a decimated British manufacturing industry. Despite the promise that there was no intention to create a European super-state, we have found ourselves subject to European laws, economic policies and jurisdiction, with no ability to decide our own destiny or even to control our own borders.
When we have to go cap in hand just for the privilege of leaving, the British people are not likely to change their minds about the acceptability of government from Brussels. They are not likely to look kindly on those who misled them in the first place about the nature of the arrangement, and who are now compounding that misjudgment by colluding with the EU in order to stop us from leaving.
Even if the people were to be required, on the ground that they got it wrong the first time, to go through the process again, the machinations which have been resorted to in order to keep us in the EU are unlikely to induce them to change their minds – quite the reverse.
What many voters now want most is to be shot of the whole sorry business, and as quickly as possible. We will then, they feel, be free for the first time in decades to seek our own salvation. They will realise that the dire warnings about our future outside the EU look very unconvincing when one grasps that that is exactly where the whole of the rest of the world has always been and continues to be, and that it doesn’t seem to have done them much harm.
The guerrilla warfare faced by Brexiteers may have some success as a diversionary and delaying tactic, but it is, in other words, most unlikely to change the eventual outcome.
It seems to me that one important message absorbed by the electorate is that unless we leave the Single Market, the Customs Union and the control of the European Court of Justice, then we have not left the EU.
This point is crucial in stopping obfuscation.
The next point that many I believe now understand is that extensions are a waste of time and having past the 29th March deadline we now must leave on the extended deadline of the 31st October.
That point is also crucial in stopping procrastination.
We are all subject to indoctrination and the influence of ideologies. Therefore it is not a given that the sensible, objective and benign decisions will be made. To assume that everyone is going to see sense is a mistake.
Those who are able to think objectively about our future have to ‘buck the system’ because ‘the system’ is not on our side.
The MSM, Big business, Politicians, Intelligentsia, Educators, and now it appears the Judiciary have been targeted by the Ideologues and a majority are persuaded.
That does not mean that a majority of these individuals are bad people it means that they have allowed themselves to be ‘useful idiots’.
Being clever is not being intelligent and being intelligent is not being wise.
Excellent article by Bryan Gould. I’m not quite as optimistic as him about the common sense of the voters. It’s true they just want job done and they probably will not blame present Tory leaders for present shambles but I suspect if EU do settle for a reheated May BRINO the majority will not recognise the slight of hand. We would have Brexit in name only, and we will be dragged back in or continued in for many important matters.
Let’s hope for the better alternative – EU says niet, Boris says – good, this is my trump card – 31/10 bye bye (so called) friends.
To almost every foolishness there comes the possibility of correction ! ….. It is now proven that the Lib/Dems have pleasure in being against Democracy. It is also proven that Labour, when required to act for the Nation, regress into the hope of Party benefit. Conservatives have had to remove the whip from an anti democratic faction of their Party. We also have seen the action of our Courts being brought into question, as to the extent of their remit upon Government. Also we now see the error of a fixed term Government.
We have seen those who otherwise are sensible, claim that the voting public did not understand the referendum question, which we never hear upon a General Election result ! – The same people suggest a Second referendum, and this patent drivel is made before the First referendum result is implemented ! It is now very clear to all thinking people, that we have sheer rubbish with some MPs within the House of Commons. – Provided that Party colour can be made secondary, there is a chance to clear the House of these pseudo People’s Representatives !
It is clear that the system of Government requires surgery rather than a sticking plaster applied, and I look forward to an urgent General Election that will implement these requirements. While this is taking place, perhaps a change from the absurd FPTP vote system could be replaced by a PR system. – It would be quite a change for ALL votes to count in an election, as well as the changes to boundaries brought to an end. – Voting for what we want, in place of a tactics exercise would be so adult !
A sane and reasonable person will have decided by now that certain politicians currently sitting in parliament are not representing their constituents nor the result of the referendum. It does not take long to accumulate condemning evidence of an individual MP’s obfuscations and negativity and in due course (roll it on) there will be a General Election and that leaves such MPs open to the winds of change. It might help their already damaged cause if they saw the light and supported democracy and upheld their constituents’ views.