Hands up who thinks it’s a good idea to stop going on and on about the EU? Quite a few million, I suggest. Much as I’d love to stay in the EU, I am not one of those good folk who think the result of the referendum can be reversed. The waves of shit that will soon wash up on our shores are what we voted for. We made our bed and now we’re going to be covered in the stuff. What I am arguing about is what the Brexiters were promising before the referendum. We would regain the sovereignty we never lost, never again could the EU overrule our own parliament (though no one seems to know the things on which they overruled us) and we could regain control of out destiny and, more importantly to many Brexiters, the control of our borders which we always had. But if we are to regain control of whatever it is we want control over, shouldn’t our sovereign parliament have some say about the terms of our Brexit?
I am very clear that Britain voted to leave the EU. I will not be manning the barricades to keep us in and neither will the vast majority of remainers. So let’s put that argument to bed. What I am also very clear about is that Britain did not vote to crash our economy, to wreck our living standards and to leave us isolated on the fringes of Europe, outside the single market, trying to cobble together trade deals with the likes of Australia and, I am not making this up, Kenya.
I am not sure that many people have really thought about what we want from a post EU Britain. A lot of people – I have no idea how many – see one issue and one issue only: immigration. They believe that whatever happens to the economy, it will be worth it if we manage to stop these bloody foreigners coming over here to staff our hospitals and all the rest of it. That, I have to say is a fair point. If you believe in what Ukip are saying, and millions do – a prolonged recession and declining prosperity will be a price worth paying and let us remember that Nigel Farage and the outers were the true winners in the referendum.
I think it’s more complicated than that and here’s why. Neither main party now supports remaining in the single market as it stands. Some Tories want a hard Brexit, abandoning the single market, severely restricting migration and effectively hoping for the best, and Labour, at least Corbyn and the comrades merely want “access” to the single market and no migration restrictions at all. Unsurprisingly, I am on the fence again.
My long parroted wish is for a national debate on migration because the people have never been allowed to speak on it. Politicians left and right both think they know best but they don’t. I am quite sure that there is a majority out there for some form of restriction on migration. I am not sure people want to stop doctors and nurses coming here, or top scientists and researchers, so we need a debate on which group of workers we perhaps don’t want to come here. Let’s be honest and open about it. And let’s look at the facts. Are migrants a net benefit to the country or not? The result of the referendum suggests to me that enough people want certain migration restrictions and it can’t be ignored.
We need to debate what will happen to the EU workers who are already here and what will happen to Britons working and living in the EU. Will they be able to stay, will they still receive health care, will they be able to work? And will we need visas to travel, work, study and live abroad? What are MPs for if they don’t have a say on that little lot?
The myth we need to address is that the EU needs us more than we need them. Wrong. Banging the table and shouting will not gain deals for Britain around the negotiating table. It will probably have the opposite effect. But whether we do get deals or not there is one thing that stands out: if we are to regain control from Brussels, then that control must surely exist in the House of Commons. Not to prevent Brexit – that is going to happen – but to ensure that we get the best deal possible. Parliament must hold the Tories to account. Not by way of delaying tactics, but by argument and scrutiny. If none of this happens and Theresa May bulldozes Brexit through parliament, who has control then?
I keep hearing that Project Fear before the referendum failed because the world didn’t end when we voted to leave. There is a simple reason for that: we haven’t left yet. But the dramatic fall in the value of the pound, caused by the vote, will soon lead to large increases in the price of fuel and imported goods, including food. If the government is left to its own devices, do you really trust the Tories to look after you? I don’t.
I see negotiations with the EU as being about damage limitation more than anything else. We cannot and should not try to undo 23 June because that would simply be wrong. Our MPs should be able to debate on vote on issues surrounding Brexit and make the ultimate decision on what Brexit should look like.
Yes, we’re leaving the EU but let’s not just leave everything to Liam Fox, David David and Boris Bleeding Johnson, eh?
