There’s been a lot in the press this week about a second referendum. One minute it seems that Jeremy Corbyn might be warming to the idea, the next it’s totally ruled out. Even Kier Starmer, who had seemed to be the voice of reason in the shadow cabinet as far as Brexit is concerned, has ruled a second referendum out. Remainers are in despair. Who speaks for them? The only truly pro-EU party seems to be the LibDems (apart from the Greens) but they are failing to make any headway. Indeed, that fact appears to justify a lot of Momentum-ites in their antipathy to a second referendum. “The LibDems campaigned specifically on a ticket for a second referendum last year and failed to make a breakthrough, which is a clear indication that no-one wants a second referendum.”
Well, yes and no. No-one wants to re-run the referendum. What would be the point of that? All the same old ill-informed and misleading arguments would be rehearsed again and the country would remain as divided as it is now, possibly more so.
Yet, with the lamentable lack of any sort of morality within the present government, an inability, or unwillingness, to actually oppose by the official opposition and a House of Commons that seems positively supine in its ability to simply role over and do what the Maybot says, what are those of us who believe that the country is being led in a disastrously mistaken direction supposed to do? And this doesn’t even begin to take account of all the very real problems, such as collapsing public services (most spectacularly the Health Service), the housing crisis and a huge lack of resources for education; all of which issues are slipping almost unnoticed under the radar while our incompetent government bangs on about Brexit at the cost of all else.
First of all, we should never have had the referendum in the first place. It was an appalling abrogation of responsibility on the part of David Cameron to even suggest it. Everyone knows that referendums are “device of dictators and demagogs”, to quote Thatcher, who was herself quoting Attlee (and I can’t imagine I’ll ever quote Thatcher again). Why have successive governments steadfastly refused to allow one on hanging? Because they know that the result would be its reintroduction. If parliamentarians can possess scruples about such things, knowing that mob rule (which is essentially what a referendum is) will not lead to good decision making, why on earth did they go along with the EU referendum? Political expediency is the answer and is also the reason why politicians are held in such contempt, which is not good for democracy.
David Cameron, in his determination to gain a majority, sacrificed any integrity he may have had in calling the referendum and it backfired spectacularly. Many people have commented on the fact that the referendum turned into a right wing coup, which is exactly what it was. If Cameron had had any backbone, he would have stood up to UKIP and told them that their abhorrent ideology was wrong. Instead, in a naked attempt to steal their supporters, he simply adopted their policies. Not only did this lose the referendum, it unleashed a particularly unpleasant strain of nationalism and racism that I’m not sure has ever been seen previously in the UK (the nearest thing I can think of were Moseley’s Blackshirts and the Cable Street riots; though that was a movement, not a philosophy of a large percentage of the public). Then, having lost the referendum, DC simply walks off into the sunset, leaving May, Davis, Johnson, Fox et al to take the reigns and usher in the most right wing government in living memory.
How did this happen? How have we ended up with an opposition that seems willing to just roll over and accept what the government says? “The will of the people” is a nonsense. It’s nothing of the sort. Corbyn, it seems to me, simply wants to get into power at any cost so that he can create his utopian socialist Britain. The really sad part of this is that I would probably be supporting him in this, were it not for his stance on Brexit, which is nationalistic, wrong-headed and anti-democratic.
Do we really get the government we deserve, as people seem fond of saying these days? Or is it that there are simply not the people around with a strong sense of morality and a desire to do what they can for the common good? Where are the Clement Attlees, the Harold Wilsons, the Rab Butlers, yes even the Churchills? Look at the makeup of any cabinet up to the 1970s (of any hue) and they were filled with real statesmen. People who went into politics because they really believed that they could make a difference. What have we got now? A self-serving bunch of mediocre politicians who seem to be interested only in their own futures. I know that there are good, hardworking MPs who do still believe in the common good but, sadly, this doesn’t get them into government. It seems that, to get into government, you simply have to be a mate of Boris Johnson or some other twit with a sense of entitlement. Toby Young eventually gets forced to resign because of huge public pressure, yet Ben Bradley, who posted equally appalling comments (if not more so) “is not going to be sacked”.
So no, a second referendum is not the answer. A new or “fresh” referendum on the final terms might be. Indeed it is probably absolutely necessary. Since Cameron set us on this path where “the people decide” it must be the people deciding on the final destination, surely? It would be far better for MPs, whom we know are overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU (something like 75%), to rediscover their moral compasses and vote against a bad deal or no deal at all. This would precipitate an election, where a proper debate, with real facts (no £350million on buses) would be needed. Then the whole sorry business could be put to bed. Since that is not going to happen, a new referendum is probably the only answer.
What a mighty mess. Yet what Brexit has done, apart from the disaster of its own existence, is to expose the parlous state of democracy in our country. When something as important as Brexit is reduced to schoolboy yah-boo-sucks in the House of Commons, there has to be something really rotten at the core of our system.
Two things need to change if we’re to have any chance of having something that even vaguely resembles real democracy in the UK. The first past the post electoral system needs to be thrown in the dustbin and replaced with a truly democratic proportional system; and the House of Commons itself needs remodelling. With the Palace of Westminster needing major surgery, now would be the ideal time for the Commons to move out and into a modern, horse-shoe shaped debating chamber. The yah-boo-sucks mode of “debate” would disappear instantly. It doesn’t lead to sensible decision making (after all, we don’t all disagree with each other all the time) and it really is time that parliamentarians grew up and started behaving like adults.
A third change would be the reform of the House of Lords, which would become impossible to avoid with a more modern lower house.
Sadly, I am not holding my breath.
Indoor Voice 