Imagine my dilemma. I am 3/8ths British, as a result of my ancestry, I feel English and European in no particular order and I believe very strongly in the European Union, even though a small majority of people in the country voted to leave. Leaving the EU has been as messy, torturous and complex as we expected it would be and we all know, even the most vociferous leavers, that Brexit will leave the country worse off. I’d go so far as to say that voting to leave the EU will prove to be an historic blunder of epic proportions. What could possibly make me feel hopeful? Another referendum, perhaps?
Many of my fellow remainers (remoaners in the eyes of the Sun and the Mail) believe the only way of stopping this looming disaster is to put the whole thing back to the electorate. Politicians have been so utterly inept, so totally cynical, always putting their parties ahead of the national interest to the extent that there is effectively gridlock in parliament. Politicians have failed. Let the voters decide again if this is what they really, really want. I’m torn.
For one thing, I remain implacably opposed to the idea of referendums. We live in a parliamentary democracy. We elect people to serve as our representatives in parliament, to make decisions, to make laws. Given that so many aspects of the world are incredibly complex, I support the idea that members of parliament have time to examine in great detail the minutiae of the great issues of our time and make informed decisions. If we don’t like the decisions MPs make, we can vote them out at the next election. Referendums are for cowards.
The biggest coward was David Cameron who, when faced with his unruly Europe haters, caved in to their demands and called a referendum on the basis of narrow party politics, to end the debate on Europe once and for all. He ended it all right. He lit the blue touch paper for the country to set itself on fire. Now we all have to live with the consequences, which will not be good.
I should be sympathetic to the idea of another vote so that we get the right result. 17 million plus got it all wrong in 2016. Let’s give them a chance to get it right. Yet I cannot feel that way. I do believe that the result was achieved on the basis of lies, quite possibly Russian influence and dark money. The hard right English nationalists who won certainly believe they would not have won but for the scare stories about migration and the lies like the Brexit bus. That’s reason enough to re-run the whole thing, right? On balance, I don’t know that it is.
As things stand, I am not convinced we can have another referendum just like that. I am not worried about the threats from the far right of civil unrest because we have to look beyond that. If civil unrest was to occur, it would be a matter for the forces of law and order to address. Unusually, for someone who sees the world in black and white, I see Brexit through shades of grey. On balance, I am looking at an alternative scenario. It is in two parts.
- I am minded to seek the softest possible Brexit, a kind of Norway Plus. It means we leave the EU, but we retain many of the benefits of membership, such as free movement, access to a customs union and the single market. On the downside, we will end up paying lots of money with no seat at the top table. On the upside, our businesses have certainty about the future and the change to our lives will be less bad than they might otherwise be. Within this type of arrangement, we can still control migration that we could when we were in the EU, but chose not to do so. We would be worse off outside the EU because every possible scenario of leaving makes us worse off.
- I would like to see a full independent public inquiry into the conduct of the referendum, alongside the various police investigations currently taking place. We know the leave campaigns lied incessantly throughout. Where did the money come from? Were other countries like Russia involved? If they were, were people in our country guilty of treason? In short, what happened? As in Watergate, follow the money.
And then what? Who knows? The inquiries might last years but that’s okay since Brexit and the negotiations which follow will last for years, maybe decades in the future. We’re in the realms of the hypothetical. Would be seek to have the referendum to null and void the original result? Would we, on the basis of a dramatically changed situation, go back to the people? And would I, a lifelong opponent of referendums, swallow my principles on the basis of, for example, serious acts of criminality?
I have no idea how this ends. Brexit has cost me a number of acquaintances, including Facebook ‘friends’. There has been nothing more divisive in my lifetime. The country is badly broken and there is no certainty it can be put back together. One thing I am not convinced about is that another referendum, at least now, would repair the damage Brexit has caused to our country. If I did, I would support in defiance of everything I believe in.
If we are going to leave the EU, I could live with the softest of Brexits, if it protected jobs, if it preserved the freedoms I have enjoyed for my children. Before I die, I would like to think that the United Kingdom if it still exists – and I have serious reservations that it will – rejoins the EU and we put this sorry mess down to a momentary lapse of reason.
With strong leadership from the top of politics, from people with compassion and vision, perhaps the divisions will heal. But with political pygmies at the top table, I fear things can only get worse.
