Darren Roache
Monday, January 21, 2019
It is high time that Prime Minister Theresa May, the United Kingdom’s Government and Parliament, and also the European Union (EU), stop taking the UK’s people for fools.
Theresa May voted to remain in the EU. The then Prime Minister David Cameron, himself a remainder, exited stage left, when the referendum did not go his way.
Could one reasonably assert that Theresa May’s grab for the Tory Leadership was to frustrate the Brexit process and ensure the UK does not leave the EU? Considering what we are witnessing so far, would such an assertion be wrong?
The one salient and contentious point in Theresa May’s negotiated deal with the EU is the controversial Backstop agreement. She originally said that the draft EU proposals for a common area across the Northern Ireland border would "undermine the UK common market and threaten the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom".
So how could she have allowed herself to accept a deal with a Backstop Agreement? This is the single most derisive element of the withdrawal agreement that Theresa May “negotiated”, and the derision to it is significant by the magnitude of the loss of the vote on it. The vote was 432-202 against the withdrawal agreement. That was a more than 2-1 margin against Theresa May’s deal.
The EU does not want the UK to leave the European Union. Can one blame them? What self-respecting leach is going to want to kill off its host? The UK is one of the major benefactors to the EU. Therefore, one can fathom that the EU knowingly “gave” Theresa May a deal that they fully well knew the UK Parliament would not accept, and then simply dug themselves into their trenches to watch the chaos ensue.
The only fear that the EU would have is a NO DEAL Brexit. Any type of Brexit is not desirable to the EU, but the deal given to Theresa May ensures that the EU maintains it proverbial foot on the UK’s neck. However, the EU are shuddering at the notion of a NO DEAL Brexit. The only glimmer of hope the EU has is that many in the UK Parliament are not desirous of a NO DEAL Brexit either.
The UK Parliament is not being helpful to the UK’s cause. They cannot unite behind any of the options on the table. The only unity they seem able to demonstrate is their hatred for the Backstop.
Not even the £1Billion gifted to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up Theresa May’s government can assuage the rage that the DUP felt against the Backstop agreement. But that anger stops short of getting rid of Theresa May, as witnessed by the failed Vote of No Confidence brought by Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. If there is one thing that the Tories and DUP hate and fear more than anything is a Labour Government with Jeremy Corbyn as PM.
Most of the Labour membership is said to be Pro Remain; whereas the Labour Leader himself is favouring a UK out of the EU but remaining in the Customs Union, with a Norway Style deal allowing the UK to still participate in the Single Market.
The thinking is that this would minimise the risk of a hard border in Northern Island (no need for a Backstop then) and would minimise the risk to the UK economy and employment rights. However, Corbyn’s approach to Brexit is viewed by many to be hesitant, reserved and unsure, lacking imagination and substance.
In the UK’s last referendum vote, the people voted to leave the European Union. There are however the many references to the many lies told by the Leave Campaign which some say swung the vote in their favour. There were the unsubstantiated claims of how much money would be saved being out of the EU that can go to the National Health Service and the whipping up of fear about Immigrants and Turkey Joining the EU.
Boris Johnson did talk about the issue of Turkey joining the EU several times in the lead-up to EU Referendum, and was co-signatory of a letter to the then Prime Minister Cameron a week before the vote, warning about Turkish membership to the EU. Brexit campaign group Vote Leave was also fined and referred to the Police after an Electoral Commission probe said it broke electoral law.
An Oxford Professor’s evidence to the High Court suggests that it is “very likely” that the UK voted for Brexit because of the overspending of Vote Leave campaign. The pursuit of this case has gone suspiciously quiet. However, with all this considered, can there be questions about the validity of the result of the referendum?
There is a premise gathering popularity in some quarters that a second referendum may be necessary to break the present impasse. It is believed that the people of the UK would have, looking at all that they have been presented with during the Brexit process, changed their minds and vote to remain. This is not popular with those who believe the original referendum is legally binding and should therefore stand. The following excerpt from the from the legal archive reads:
“The European Union Referendum Act 2015 – the law that allowed the referendum to take place – didn't specify what would happen in the event of a vote to leave. It said “because of the sovereignty of Parliament, referendums cannot be legally binding in the UK, and are therefore advisory”.11 Oct 2017.
I once loosely referred to the Referendum as a “temperature gauge” because at the end of the day it is still left to Parliament to carry out the will of the people, which, considering what we are looking at now, does not look like they are actively working to carry out the people’s will.
