My readers will know that I am an enthusiastic
Brexiteer and today finds me dismayed and frustrated by the antics at
Westminster, all designed to obstruct the nation from leaving the European
Union which it famously voted to do on 23 June 2016. The referendum vote at 52%
to 48% was admittedly close but all the major parties accepted that result and
committed themselves to delivering Brexit in their election manifestos for 8
June 2017, upon which they were elected. Theresa May’s Tory government made
very heavy weather of the negotiations with the EU and eventually brought home
a deal conceding too much to the EU, especially as regards the Irish border,
and this deal has been twice resoundingly rejected by the House of Commons.
Brexit is scheduled for 29 March 2019; in the absence of a deal, despite
Commons motions of protest, a no-deal Brexit would follow on that day as the
law of the land prescribes. The government has now been forced by divisions to
seek a short delay to Brexit to 30 June 2019 but whether the EU will
unanimously agree to that remains to be seen. There is a small possibility that
a 3rd attempt to pass Theresa May’s deal with DUP support in the
Commons will succeed, though pipsqueak Speaker Bercow is doing his utmost to
prevent a substantially unchanged motion from proceeding.
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| Dominic Grieve |
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| John Bercow |
Two for The Rogues’ Gallery
We can be sure the Tory malcontents, various
cross-party anti-Brexit groupings, a leaderless Labour rabble and certain City
agitators will do all they can in the courts, on the streets and in both houses
of Parliament to derail Brexit in any form. I do not think the country admires
these efforts. All this dire confusion and shenanigans derives from what Jacob
Rees-Mogg has correctly described as “a disconnect” between the UK electorate,
mostly Leavers, and the “political classes”, overwhelmingly Remainers. Out of
650 members of Parliament maybe 500 are at heart Remainers (with widely varying
degrees of ardour) while the British public has had its democratic say and a
majority (probably growing larger by the day) wants to leave the EU, which has
insulted it constantly. The political classes pour out their Cassandra-like but
self-serving warnings about the damage to be done by Brexit while a number of
other economists and “experts” assure us that the UK will prosper post-Brexit.
I do not believe in the gloom and doom scenario and believe we can match the
best in the EU, without their growing political handicaps.
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| Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove - the Contenders / Saviours? |
The
impasse is alarming – personally I prefer a no-deal Brexit on WTO terms,
but can see the argument for swallowing Theresa’s awful deal in the interests
of stability. To make real progress the composition of the House of Commons needs
a shake-up. A general election is required but the Tories must find a new
leader – we know only too well that Theresa is electoral poison. So somehow,
she needs to be unseated and replaced by Boris, the erratic peoples’ charmer,
or level-headed Michael Gove, or obscure but competent Dominic Raab (“Dominic
Who?) or frankly anyone with a bit of oomph and a pulsating vision for Brexit.
The crucial discussions on the future deal with the EU cannot be left to
Theresa, who has shown she could not negotiate herself out of a paper bag, nor
her second-rate “circle”. We need an inspired leader, someone to emulate heroic
Finn Russell’s Scottish team of Calcutta Cup glory – Comeback Kids breathing
fire and energy. So, there are mountains
to climb but the prize is worth it. That prize is our Freedom.
SMD
20.3.19
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald
2019
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