Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine has set out some thoughts on our strategy as we respond to the total mess that the Tories are making of the Brexit negotiations.
In an article for the Times Red Box (£), she sets the scene:
The internal squabbling of our chancellor, foreign secretary, and Brexit secretary — to name just a few of the clowns at play — is making the chances of a poor deal for the UK, or a catastrophic failure to get a deal at all, all the more likely.
Instead of knuckling down and approaching negotiations with a seriousness befitting the task, Davis has so far shown up to a photo-op without even pretending to have the necessary papers and briefings, then taking the first Eurostar home. No doubt heading straight back to the journalists to criticise his leader. It rather undermines the negotiation of critical issues like EU citizens’ rights, a solution for Northern Ireland and the UK’s debt to the EU when your so-called chief negotiator would rather be at home leaking cabinet papers.
But this is all part of a hard hearted strategy. She thinks that they are trying to create such a bad atmosphere that in a year’s time, they walk way blaming the EU for the failure.
Opposition parties, she says, must do two things. Firstly, call for the negotiators to do their jobs and, secondly, to give the people a say:
The alternative for opposition is to emphasise, again and again, that Davis and his negotiators must get on and do their jobs. That compromises are desirable to get the best deal for people, the economy and society. That no deal would be a catastrophic failure of this government.
Finally, at the end of it all, opposing voices must insist that it should not be in the gift of Davis and May to decide whether the deal is good enough. To deploy the Brexiteer’s own argument, the British people must take back control, and take the final decision away from an unsteady, minority government.
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21 Comments
I imagine that the discontent will catch up with us once reality does in a couple of years. I can’t disagree with your article really; we need to make sure that we oppose anything we don’t like and make sure brexit is firmly a mess owned by the Tories.
David,
I’d extend the ownership of Brexit, not all Brexiteers are Tories, but they all equally own it. I know they will squeal it’s not my preferred type of Brexit, but you don’t get to pick how Brexit turns out my brave Brexiteers, as many a farmer is starting to find out.
David,
Surely it’s best we make sure that brexit is a mess owned by both Conservative and Labour.
There should be an inquiry into who put Leadsom and Gove in charge of farming, appointments more about politics than the national interest.
We are all bound to notice that neither DD nor his EU27 counterpart want to put a number on the size of the divorce bill, not even a pencilled-in draft number. We should look for the date on which the British public were told that this bill would exist. Was it after they voted? If so would they have voted differently if they had known?
Not only can the country afford, it urgently needs, a summer of Brexit discontent to perhaps come to its senses.
The blatant incompetence of the people allegedly in charge of exiting from the EU is nothing less than shocking. One of the reasons given for the Referendum result is people’s sense that their politicians are “elitist” and “out of touch”. More than 50 years ago Harold Macmillan ran a government that was probably well described as elitist but some of its members were in many respects actually quite good at their jobs. There are, of course, connections between competence and being in touch with people on the ground as most Lib Dem councillors know. But to have at the top people who are both living in a world dominated by one faction of one political party while manifestly incompetent is actually dangerous.
I have no doubt now that it will in the end be considered necessary for the electorate to be given the final say and Vince et al must stick to that policy. However it is crucial for this to take place only when the outcome we face is sufficiently clear. Otherwise the same combination of project fear allegations and unrealistic pledges may well defeat us again. I suggest that our leadership now concentrates on detailed disclosures as to the complex problems that face the UK negotiators and what we would do to tackle them rather than the continuing demand for a final referendum. No-one is in any doubt about our referendum policy and the time will come to bring that back to the forefront.
I think it’s quite likely that there could be a fudge to somehow keep us in the EU for at least the next few years after the official two year period expires in 2019.
I’m sure we’d all like the UK to be happy in a successful and thriving EU. But as there’s a problem. As Joseph Stiglitz puts it:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/10/joseph-stiglitz-the-problem-with-europe-is-the-euro
He says “The founders of the euro were guided by a set of ideas and notions about how economies function that were fashionable at the time, but that were simply wrong.”
So, how can we fix the mistake, making the EU successful and helping it survive? As well as converting just the few extra percentage needed to have a Remain majority?
@ Arnold Kiel,
“Not only can the country afford, it urgently needs…..”
Which country are to referring to here, Arnold? The UK? Or Monaco where you actually live?
Now, now Peter we shouldn’t be having a pop at foreign residents especially as so many brave Brexiteers leaders live abroad or even worse are foreign. Mr Murdoch, Lord Lawson et al. He who lives in a silicon house really should not lob bricks.
@ Peter Martin,
your comment is factually wrong, besides the point, and personal. You must be a leaver.
Christine Jardine shows a great sense of how to use words well!
Arnold Kiel,
I’m just going by what you have on your FB profile!
It’s a valid point. Anyone can express an opinion on Brexit but if they aren’t resident in the UK this should be declared.
It would appear Labour has fallen off the fence onto the side of hard Brexit. I suspect as Brexit continues they will try to climb back onto the fence, bit of a difficult job but then facing both ways must have been difficult too; only so long you can do that.
@ Richard Underhill,
When I was seeking information about remaining or leaving the EU, I don’t remember anyone in the Liberal Democrat party providing information about a final bill of settlement either. It was assumed that as net contributors, there would be no such bill.
It was not a factor that I think most people were aware of when making their choice.
@Richard Underhill,
It was I that made the above post.
I am sorry, if people thought you are posting to yourself!
I have been watching with interest the kicking Owen Jones has been on the receiving end on twitter. I suspect the twitter storm will not go unnoticed by Labour, I suspect they will soon try to climb back onto the wall, with a few quotes from Kier aimed at making Brexit look less like Brexit.
Frankie,I
Part of the reason things like Brexit came as a shock to some is Twitter. As far as I can tell twitter is where journalist and celebs go to brag about a fine grilled mullet they ate and to accuse each other of social crimes. I’m pretty certain the kind of people who take to twitter and who think Owen Jones has committed some sort of social crime will retweet each other short couplets that bristle with righteous ire, but it will have no wider meaning or significance. The singer from Cryptic Flange destroys Owen Jones on twitter, fellow journalist and author of “Brexit is Naughty” joins a growing chorus demanding Jones’ be sacked and to promote his book “The Left is more Right Wing than the Right Wing.: Honest, you can trust me”. That’s what twitter is.
Glen,
The twitter storm is merely a symptom of Brexit. Owen takes it seriously he rushed out a comment piece which was equally roasted. As a brave Brexiteer I can appreciate why you don’t want to pay attention to it. All bad Brexit news is false, including the chlorinated chicken and everything will be alright on the night. As long as we all march on together over the cliff we will be fine and anything that happens tis just a flesh wound. Problem is that cliff is getting higher the more we march to the top of it and the flesh wounds keep mounting up. I can also hear more and more Brexiteers whining this isn’t my type of Brexit, even the brave Brexiteers in the Mail comment section. So keep going Glen and perhaps on day you can come out to your friends about being a brave Brexiteer.
Frankie.
I never pay attention to twitter. I was not paying attention to it for years before Brexit. Never read the Daily Mail comments either.
Also do cliffs get higher and do you march to the top of them and do you get flesh wounds on the way or is it just a strange mixed metaphor that’s falling on deaf ears like the sword of Damocles as it upsets the applecart.
@Frankie
This talk by Richard Tuck, Frank G Thomson Professor of Government at Harvard Univesity exposes the rationale why Corbyn really wants a hard Brexit:
https://policyexchange.org.uk/pxevents/brexit-a-prize-in-reach-for-the-left/
Corbyn’s problem is that even if he does get back on the fence, it is only because some of his Party (like Keir Starmer) are on one side of it and others (like Barry Gardiner) are on the other; a Party where even the spokespersons are divided is in no state to fight an election where such issues will be at the forefront.