Without the merest hint of irony, Theresa May announced today that the UK and EU’s enemies would “like nothing better than to see us fractured”. “Rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology” should not jeopardise the security of UK citizens. This woman is plainly an idiot: deep-seated (right wing) ideology is what is taking us out of the EU. This gets worse every day.
May was said to “warn the EU” in a speech greeted in near silence by our European friends who, presumably, are as baffled at her stupidity as we are. The point is that Britain is so diminished by our reckless decision to leave the EU and our continued failure to say what we want out of Brexit that we can’t warn Europe about anything. We do not have the power to warn them and anyway, we are the country that decided to cut ourselves free from Europe, not the other way round.
Of course, we need close links with Europe. We always have done since the Second World War. In fact, the formation of the EU, as it wasn’t called when it was formed, happened as a direct result of a divided Europe and Nazism. And May appears to be offering to cooperate over all aspects of security. She says we need to remain in Europol, to maintain coordination on security, to work together on sanctions, operations on the ground and developing capabilities in defence, cyber and space. Yes to all that. It’s what we do now and May wants things to carry on after Brexit as they do now. So, why just in security?
If absolutely nothing is going to change in the realms of security, why not set out to achieve a similar deal with trade? If her warring party can unite around security, then why not unite in the area of trade, to see us remaining in the single market and the customs union, too? After all, neither of these vital issues were on the referendum ballot paper. What’s good for our security is good for the economy, isn’t it?
In reality, our enemies are thrilled to see us separating from Europe. Even the “special relationship” with the USA is meaningless under the protectionist Trump, who will in due course be found to have colluded with Russia long before the presidential election. No. The deep-seated ideology is that of the Tory/Ukip hard right that essentially just hates foreigners, which is what Brexit is really all about.
Doubtless, we will come to an amicable arrangement with the EU about security, hard Brexit or not. Whether a divided Britain will be more secure is anyone’s guess. It certainly won’t be a better place.
