It is now nearly eighteen months since the Brexit Referendum. The public mood seems to be coming round to the fact that the whole process was so deeply flawed that it should be declared null and void. We should ‘Exit from Brexit’. This will probably happen via a second referendum on the terms of any agreement that the UK government comes to with the EU. One option must be to cancel the whole process and stay within the EU, ideally on exactly the same terms we were on before the referendum of June 2016.
One of the most interesting themes to emerge over these last eighteen months has been the extent to which the main movers and shakers behind the movement to leave the EU were funded by a strange mix of ultra conservative Americans and the Russian government, cooperating through techniques coming from the weird world of psychological warfare. I would strongly urge readers of this blog to follow the investigative journalism of Carole Cadwalladr, J. J. Patrick, Adam Ramsay and Peter Geoghegan, the barrister and campaigner Jolyon Maugham and the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato. Between them they are doing the job that Woodward and Bernstein did to uncover Watergate. Brexit is part of a global assault on democracy. The Mueller investigation is uncovering the Trump end of this mess, while the Electoral Commission is beginning to investigate the UK end.
The lies that won the Leave campaign their victory are being revealed as just that, lies. The lie that if we left the EU there would be extra money for the NHS was perhaps pivotal in winning it for Leave. It is now clear that there will not be extra money for the NHS. Instead it will be decimated and privatized. The Leave campaign claimed that leaving the EU would be quick, easy and pain free, and now quite the reverse is plainly true. Businesses, scientific agencies, key workers and all manner of opportunities are leaving the UK just as many Remain people pointed out they would.
The one thing that politicians really are influenced by is how people vote. During the month of November there have been 35 council by-elections in Britain. Only eight changed hands, but they are very interesting. The Liberal Democrats gained seven and the Greens one. The Conservatives lost four, Labour two and UKIP two. This represents a gain of eight for the most pro EU parties and a loss of eight for the main parties supporting Leave. Some of the swings have been dramatic. The Conservative vote in Cradley and Bishops Frome collapsed from a high of 81.1 % in 2011 to just 28.8% last month as the Greens made an emphatic gain. The LibDems took seats from UKIP, Conservatives and Labour in vote Leave areas of the country, and they won them with some huge swings. This is only one month and only a few by-elections, but if it is a sign of more to come that could be very significant. It may well be that the public mood is now strongly to remain in the EU. UKIP have totally collapsed, and if Labour and the Conservatives don’t wake up they might follow UKIP onto the fire of a backlash to the Brexit lies and deceit.