The general response amongst the British establishment to Brexit has been inadequate. The result shocked many political pundits and home and abroad. Despite anyone's opinion on the level of debate in the referendum. Questions must be answered about the UK's role in the world, that were not addressed by the referendum or by any plans for a leave vote by the Government and at home as for why there was no much dissatisfaction amongst the electorate. Generally, on the whole, people voted the way that they did is that they were dissatisfied with the direction that the nation was going in (regardless it has to do with the EU or not). Why am I talking about this? Well, I think the people of this country and its political class should come with solutions to these problems. I think as a nation and a society this is the best time to do this, from the ruling party we got nothing but confusion on this subject when so many things are at risk. Another reason why I am mentioning this is that the level of debate is rather toxic in this country at this current time. The concept of Brexit as it was envisioned during the referendum is quickly dying in this country and we need to grasp the situation that we are in, it does not matter who you voted, what matters is what we can do in the future. My view was different compared to more leave voters and was unlikely to occur in the first place, but it is still possible depending on when we do get a Labour Government. On the issue of Europe, I have always concerned myself a Bennite. I fundamentally believe that the European Union is on a track on a unified superstate unless we do not get substantial reform, not only this I see this union an authoritarian corporate Neo-Liberal Union. However, I think I should be open to new solutions while this Bennite vision that I support grows more unlikely every day. Where the leave argument remains dominated by the vilest elements of the right in British society.
While on the other hand, I fully know that we need to compromise with the rest of the Labour Party, I think we need to come with a dialogue with the Pro-Remain Pro Corbyn types who make up the majority of the membership of the Labour Party. Yes, I could open up the old arguments of the referendum, but at this point, I fear it would be too divisive and counterproductive. What is more important at this point is coming up with a Socialist vision for the future of this country. A task that is not going to easy. The tide is inevitably going to favour remain after the complete clusterfuck created by the Conservative Party, moreover, the obvious demographic change will favour remain. For this very reason, I think those in power will favour a deal very similar to the EEA. The terms of such deal will break us away from some of the most draconian aspects of EU membership such on the issue of fishing. Fishing remains to be a hot topic on the debate on European Union membership. Two EEA members Iceland and Norway have significantly more control other their own fishing policy. EEA membership would solve the question over the Northern Ireland border where a similar deal that we see with the Norwegian and Swedish border would come into effect. My main concern with the EEA is that will not have the control over our own laws, regulations and economic policy that I would like to manage by the economy in a potential post-Neo-Liberal Socialist fashion. Moreover, many of the rules of regulations that could be created by the European Union may be forced on us without us having the power to influence it. The United Kingdom obviously has different economic needs than, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Regardless the EEA is a likely and a pragmatic compromise that we would likely have in place. Though a deal similar to the EEA is highly likely, some people shortly after the referendum campaign proposed some sort of associate membership of the European Union.
The thoughts that come to mind is what is the source of confusion and the complete failings of our society? Well, I think there as a general lack of awareness about the European Union, the details of its treaties, how it is run, members of the European Parliaments, members of the commission and the EU laws etc. This lack of transparency is a legitimate argument for leaving the Union. However, the same could be said about our political system at home and that narrative is also true. I had always made the case that we should create reforms at home after we leave the European Union, though now I am sceptical that we will at this current time. Where can we start on our political system, well we have an un-elected legislative branch the House of Lords in reforming the Lords an ideal reform would include having Lords elected using PR so let’s say Labour gets 40% of the vote then 40% of appointees should be members of the Labour Party. Another issue that needs to be addressed for certain is the electoral system that is even more outdated than the Discman, First Past the Post, I propose a compromise between the two and something along the lines of AV, yes the AV referendum was a complete failure 2011. That was agreed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats as a term for the coalition government. Then there is a subject of political education. The EU referendum brought some of the most toxic debate seen in British Political history an argument from the Pro-Leave side to an extent devolved to the pointless issue of blue passports, which we could have had blue passports as a member of the EU like Croatia and on the remain side free roaming in Europe, which most mobile phone companies have pledged to keep. Then we have the likes of the
Some of the concern expressed by the remain side were mass hysteria let’s not forget that. Mark Carney during the referendum predicted that there would a recession immediately after the referendum. This of course never occurred. On the subject of Political education, the ruling of the Conservative Party has constantly voted against any proposed political education for children. This, of course, is a very large concern, the average citizen of the United Kingdom is generally ignorant of what the Government is doing and the internal workings of the British Political system. I would argue that the lack of political education in this country is largely the reason why the country is in its current state. If you keep the working class ignorant you keep them down, how does this mean different life chances, one instance that proves this is with an education of said Babies. The baby born in Oxford would have access to the best education in the private sector in the best places in the country such as Eton, why the Baby born in Liverpool may have access to a school that is ranked as inadequate by Ofsted. Of course, this a major generalisation but hopefully, you will get the message. Education promotes another issue, the general intelligence of the population. I always argued that education is key is transforming society for the better in the future. But how can we make changes to society when the population, on the whole, is not aware of the problems of society. I believe we should aim for impartial political education from the age of 10 for Children for starters. Yes, there will always be biased and a major criticism from the right is that teachers are too left-wing and liberal. But it has to be better than what we have now. This issue will not be solved overnight but it is something that we do need to address in the future to improve political debate and to develop new ideas on how to run society.
The reason behind the following essays is rather simple, to examine to what we need to do now with Brexit and perhaps more importantly in the long term with our entire political system. Further on the subject of political education, Brexit and transparency in a democracy which is vital for the future of this nature I thought I would use this quote from Tony Benn. "Ask the 5 powerful questions. What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you?" This quote is one of my favourites by Tony Benn. In an ideal setting, every democracy should pass on these questions. In reality, they do not. Of course, on the hot subject of today, the European Union also fails the 5 powerful questions. That is partly the reason that both myself and Benn favoured leaving the European Union. However, what is most important is the average citizen aware of these questions and can the average citizen answer that question? This is another reason I favour political education since if people fail to question the powers who influence all of our lives nothing will change. Perhaps that is why Theresa May said Nothing has changed during her disastrous election campaign in 2017. Questioning those who are in power in this matter is vital, it does not matter if you voted to remain and perhaps desire to see federal Europe or a reformed European Union. On the other side you may have voted leave, for some sort of right-wing Libertarian society promoted by the vote leave and Brexit the Movie or you may see the European Union as an anti-democratic and capitalist institution. We must ask these questions to whoever is in a position of authority. If enough people, ask these questions and hold people to account we could change society rather quickly. This does not have to be in the ballot box this could be in every aspect of society, online, at work, at school, or even in a strip club. I believe those in power use petty differences such as the question of European Union membership to split the British public, so we can no longer do this in a unifying manner.
The reason behind the following essays is rather simple, to examine to what we need to do now with Brexit and perhaps more importantly in the long term with our entire political system. Further on the subject of political education, Brexit and transparency in a democracy which is vital for the future of this nature I thought I would use this quote from Tony Benn. "Ask the 5 powerful questions. What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you?" This quote is one of my favourites by Tony Benn. In an ideal setting, every democracy should pass on these questions. In reality, they do not. Of course, on the hot subject of today, the European Union also fails the 5 powerful questions. That is partly the reason that both myself and Benn favoured leaving the European Union. However, what is most important is the average citizen aware of these questions and can the average citizen answer that question? This is another reason I favour political education since if people fail to question the powers who influence all of our lives nothing will change. Perhaps that is why Theresa May said Nothing has changed during her disastrous election campaign in 2017. Questioning those who are in power in this matter is vital, it does not matter if you voted to remain and perhaps desire to see federal Europe or a reformed European Union. On the other side you may have voted leave, for some sort of right-wing Libertarian society promoted by the vote leave and Brexit the Movie or you may see the European Union as an anti-democratic and capitalist institution. We must ask these questions to whoever is in a position of authority. If enough people, ask these questions and hold people to account we could change society rather quickly. This does not have to be in the ballot box this could be in every aspect of society, online, at work, at school, or even in a strip club. I believe those in power use petty differences such as the question of European Union membership to split the British public, so we can no longer do this in a unifying manner.
As a follow, up to what I was explaining Yesterday I will continue writing about what is wrong with British Society. The state of the Conservative and Unionist Party is the key issue that needs to be addressed. The question of Europe has been the Achilles heel of the Conservative Party for decades. Much of this infighting, however, was hidden behind the scenes away from the prying eyes of the public. Many of the key members of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) were former members of the Party such as Nigel Farage. Moreover, on this point, two MP's defected from the Conservative Party during the 2010-2015 coalition Government with the Liberal Democrats, Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell. These defections with the addition of the success of UKIP in the European Elections in 2014 was the final straw for Prime Minister David Cameron. David Cameron had is own fights with major Eurosceptics, the 2005 Conservative leadership election was largely thought on the issue with Europe with the Brexiter David Davis. Of course, the infighting in the Conservative Party on the issue of Europe was not only on ideological lines many MP's aligned themselves along with their career interests, such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. Boris Johnson is known for drafting an Article in the Sunday Times that backed remain that was never published. Instead, Boris Johnson published Article backing leave. It should be also noted that during his time as the Mayor of London Boris Johnson opposed a referendum on European Union Membership.
Therefore, the many of the leading Conservatives in the EU referendum did not wholly believe in leaving the European Union. Looking at this perspective we can now understand some of the lies proposed by some of the key Brexiters during the campaign, most people can recite the red bus stating £350 million for the NHS. Theresa May in summer 2018 did try to follow up this proposal with a "Brexit dividend" which was also based on similar lies based on how it will be funded. I suspect the additional money promised to the NHS has more to do with the consecutive NHS winter crises that the country has faced in recent years. Furthermore, the idea that the leading Brexiters did not actually believe in leaving the European can justify the current state of the Brexit negotiations, how can you honestly negotiate when do not believe in what you are negotiating? Not only this, many of the major Brexiters who careerists were clearly (with the exception of Boris Johnson) refuse to resign from the Government when Theresa May proposed essentially a soft Brexit in all but name at Chequers. Some of the Brexiters even went as far as public supporting the proposal, such as Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom. Before the resignations that followed the Chequers arrangement the vast majority was the cabinet was comprised of remainers and individuals that I would like to call Careerist Brexiters. Henceforth, we never had a cabinet that was really committed to the idea of leaving the European Union. This can partially explain why the cabinet was largely clueless when it came to Brexit and why they lacked an ideological direction on the matter. David Davis before the proposed Chequers arrangement was the Secretary of exiting the European Union. Unlike Boris Johnson, I am convinced that he actually believes in leaving the European Union. Firstly, I should mention that he has always campaigned to leave the European Union, he even though a Conservative leadership election against David Cameron in 2005.
Compared to the Careerist Brexiters David Davis attracted less publicity in the media. This was a rather common theme during the Referendum. Many of us that supported the Labour Leave campaign chaired by Kate Hoey and John Millis was rather a concern of the media complete ignorance that the media showed the campaign. The left wingers in Grassroots out and Lexit the leave campaign. This certainly lowered the level of debate to what I saw as toxic mudslinging. Labours campaign for remain also had similar treatment by the media, Jeremy Corbyn actually did more pro remain rallies than any other Politician, though Corybn was the most reluctant remainer politician in the country. The failure of the media to engage with alternate narratives condemned Brexit as the media allowed the viewpoints of the most toxic aspects of society to succeed in winning public favour.
On the subject of David Davis, the idea of having a Brexiter negotiating Brexit should have reassured Brexiters and Remainers who wished to see the result honoured that the result of the vote was followed through. Unlike the careerists in the Conservative Party David Davis undermined and condemned Brexit why his weak presence in the cabinet and by his incompetence. Sort of a boy that cried wolf effect occurred in Government as David Davis frequently threatened to resign but failed to follow through with the act. One example, was the scandal with Damian Green where he threatened to resign if Damian Green was sacked over the scandal that he had porn saved on this work computer in Parliament. Negotiation was rather slow during is tenure of the Secretary of State for exiting the European Union in 2018 he only had a total of 4 hours in meeting officials from the European Union. The Brexit negotiations were meant to be the most important negotiations that we had since the Second World war at Yalta and Potsdam. So, the question that must be asked, why the lack of commitment from an individual that is supposed to be fanatically Eurosceptic? Many suggest the issue is with Theresa May and the cabinet holding him back, of course, after chequers and after Dominic Rabb became the Secretary of State for exiting the European Union he was sidelined in favour of Theresa May. So perhaps an element of that argument is valid. I think the main issue with David Davis is his complete incompetence, I think we were too weak-willed to be trusted on in any negotiation. We should be reminded that it took 9 months to have an agreement with the EU, this was on the withdrawal bill. To conclude my point the failure of David Davis is one of the major reasons why we are in the position that we are in with Brexit.
Theresa May became the Tory leader and the Prime Minister in July 2016. Here path to leadership was a confusing mess, perhaps this was an obvious omen. After the EU referendum on the 23rd June 2016, the nation expected Boris Johnson to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom however, he decided not to run after he was backstabbed by his ally Michael Gove. Was the first Tory leadership a sham? Theresa May was effectively appointed as all of her opposition in the Tory leadership election stepped down. Could this be the source of the problem? There was a lot of uncertainty and confusion after Theresa May became Prime Minister. She emulated Ed Miliband in her first speech as Prime Minister bark and no bite. She aimed to open up Labour divisions at the time in the Labour Leadership Election at the time. The media showed May as the new Strong Iron Lady, the reality was very different. It took a total of 9 months to enact Article 50 and in that time the key slogan she said about Brexit was Brexit means Brexit. They had 9 months to prepare and to create a plan to leave the European Union, they did nothing. This alone should have rung alarm bells about Brexit. After the 2016 Labour Leadership Election Labour crashed in the polls due to Party division and successful media smears of Jeremy Corbyn. This combined with the Prime Ministership of Theresa May, raised questions about a general election. The MayBot constantly ignored calls for an election and ruled them out regularly in interviews. Theresa May spent Easter 2017 hiking in the Alps where she decided to hold a general election in June. On the 18th April 2017 May called a general election. Instantly the British establishment filled with lust fanatically explained that this election will result in a Tory landslide majority. The reality was very different. Due to election rules, the media was forced to have impartial news coverage of the election. The election was a disaster for the MayBot she refused to enter any debates and her Manifesto was drafted by the remainers Gina Miller, Nick Timothy, Fiona Hill and May herself. It was probably the best gift that she could ever give to Corbyn. The election shocked the nation it resulted in a hung Parliament with the Conservatives as the largest Party, Labour led by Comrade Corbyn had the largest swing in the vote since 1945. Strong and Stable, a coalition of chaos, brilliant campaign slogans thought out by May and her advisors. Have become a self-fulfilling prophecy after the 2017 election. Since the 2017 election, the Government has been involved in scandal after scandal, stories of Incompetence on a vast range of issues such as in Northern Rail. This Government has seen a vast array of resignations from people such as Amber Rudd. The MayBot Government has shown complete incompetence when it came to Brexit and has continuously capitulated on the European Union. While at the same time both hard remain and hard Brexit wings of the Tory Party are ready to revolt. In June 2018 Theresa May called a meeting at Chequers. This ideal was extremely controversial, the deal finally clarified in a general matter the negotiating position of the United Kingdom of Brexit, however, this included a softer Brexit platform. This was further clarified in the delayed white paper. This proposed deal led to the resignation of several cabinet ministers. Most notably, the two major Brexiters David Davis and Boris Johnson, the first was completely incompetent the other did not truly believe in leaving the European Union.
There are a few important questions about this, how did this happen? why did this happen? This is incompetence constructed on purpose? To reverse Brexit perhaps. Whatever the reason, we must find new ways to bring this broken nation together. It matters not if you voted leave or remain, Labour or Conservative. What we need is people to come together the Brexit vote showed how really divided we are, between England and Scotland or between the coastal towns and multicultural metropolitan cities. All I around me is harmful rhetoric and debate that drives people apart, I fundamentally think we need to come together and find solutions to these problems. Yes, the EU referendum should not have occurred in the way it did at the time, but it happened as it did and now we must find a solution to bring the country together. We are one community, a part of one human race. I just hope we get a proper debate about all of this in the future.
Thanks for Reading.
Thanks for Reading.
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