Skip to main content

12. Ruling out ‘no-deal’ is an act of vandalism


Yesterday’s vote by MPs to rule out a ‘no-deal’ BREXIT, must surely count as one of the most irresponsible acts by the UK’s elected representatives – ever. It amounts to constitutional vandalism and clearly represents a concerted attempt by forces on both sides of the House of Commons to overturn the voters’ decision of June 2016 and force a second referendum.

The decision can only have one of two effects: EITHER, the UK still manages to leave the EU but the terms and conditions will be materially worse than we would otherwise have secured, had we still retained the option of walking away from the negotiating table – OR we do not leave the EU at all. 

14 March 2019

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5. Forty years later - and it's still not clear why we should be part of the EU

Voters knew what they were doing in June 2016.  The vast majority of voters (both 'leave' and 'remain') were very well  aware that leaving the EU would have consequences. The great preponderance of 'experts', who opined on the issue, were clearly of the view that Brexit - were it to happen - would at best lead to a period of uncertainty and at worst could cause a serious and sustained economic downturn. But, despite all the warnings, 17.4mn people voted to leave. They didn’t simply wake up on the morning of 23 June 2016 and suddenly decide that they no longer wanted to be part of the EU. By that point, dissatisfaction with the EU had been simmering for more than 40 years. Generally speaking the people of the United Kingdom are a fairly tolerant bunch. As a country we tend not to rush into things and, by and large, we are prepared to give people a chance.    By any measure, the EU has had its chance. The EU has had four decades to convince the British p...

4. People voted 'leave' knowing that there would probably be negative economic consequences.

In June 2016 voters were presented   with a simple in/out choice: either to remain in the EU or leave. When faced with that straightforward, binary proposition, 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU. Not only is it undemocratic, it is also patronizing in the extreme to suggest that voters who opted for ‘leave’ made a mistake because they did not understand what they were voting for. Voters did not make a mistake. They voted to leave the EU – that was the question that was asked. Voters had multiple reasons for wanting to leave the EU. Not all voters wanted to leave for the same reasons. Clearly, some of the major issues can be categorised as: ‘sovereignty’ ‘immigration’ ‘the cost of EU membership’ and ‘increasing interference from Brussels across a range of issues’. Nor were voters misled or duped. Voters opted to leave the EU in the knowledge that there might very well be, in fact probably would be negative economic consequences for the country as a whole. They were ...