Dichotomy
The news today has been very interesting with Theresa May calling a snap election in June. Not entirely unexpected as she has been battling against her own party regarding Brexit and should it be hard or soft, or should we have another vote ad-infinitum until the EU gets the result it wanted.
To my mind there is no such thing as “hard or soft” Brexit, there is just Brexit. The Die has been cast and the people gave their verdict, though a narrow result it was a result in favour of leaving. I do wonder if the remainers would allow another vote if the result had been the other way.
It appears the Prime Minister wants a clear mandate to go to Europe to negotiate the best deal possible for the UK and not some wishy washy half in half out, still paying and obeying but no voice deal that the Labour party and LibDems seem to want.
Despite all the doom forecasters the UK economy seems to be going from strength to strength because of the “Out” vote. Though I notice the BBC has a different take on reading the news, if the result is positive as in the economy is getting better then the BBC say “despite Brexit”, yet if things are worse as in the drop in the value of the pound it is “Because of Brexit”. Maybe semantics but it is a definite bias in reporting.
Watching the news today the BBC was interviewing various people about the upcoming election, some said they were fed up with voting (understandably I am ) but it was the vitriol and blinkered view of some who just said “We need to get rid of the Tories and their Brexit policy”. Perhaps these people should look at the campaign to stay or remain in the EU and see how each party tried to lead us by the nose into voting Remain by using scare tactics. The only party (not individuals) to campaign to leave was UKIP. Some Tories and some Labour MP’s did campaign for us to leave, but they were not following party lines; the Tories were allowed a free vote.
This election should be very interesting because of the way the country voted during the Brexit campaign. During the campaign the Tory party was primarily in favour of remaining in the EU as was the Labour party, the LibDems were 100% in favour or remaining in the EU; hence all the prophecies of disaster and catastrophe should we be stupid enough to vote leave.
This is where the dichotomy comes in; looking at the result of the Brexit vote the majority of remainers was in the South East, particularly with those employed in the finance industry. Typically these people are Tory voters, yet their party under the leadership of Theresa May is now pushing for us to leave the EU, as per the result of the referendum; in other words the Tories are doing what the country voted for, no “ifs and buts”.
Whilst the majority of leave voters are from the north of England, typically Labour voters, whose leadership is still in favour of remaining within the EU or at least partly remaining within the EU to gain access to the “single market”, where we will have to still abide by EU rules, pay into the EU budget, accept unregulated immigration and have no say whatsoever in the EU.
So how does each side square this circle, does it mean that the South East will vote Labour to get the Brexit they want, or does the North vote Tory to get the Brexit they voted for?
Either way the government should follow the result of the referendum and take us out of the EU and in order carry out the will of the people they must have a free hand to negotiate the best deal possible. If it means leaving the free market then so be it. There is a big world out there that is fed up of trying to deal with the EU and will happily deal with us. As for Scotland if they really think they will be better off away from Westminster and under the yoke of unelected politicians then let them try it.
