Screw the epic Brexit distraction. We need a general election to fix Britain’s real problems.
Theresa May has now promised she’ll step down as prime minister if parliament backs her terrible and unpopular Brexit deal. But that’s no solution. Because there’s not only chronic Brexit disagreement in parliament; there are also far more pressing problems across the UK that need urgent attention. And a general election can solve both with one blow.
The best solution for Britain’s woes
Key Labour Party figures are still calling for a general election as the best way out of Brexit deadlock. And in response to May’s promise, Jeremy Corbyn insisted:
A change of government can’t be a Tory stitch-up, the people must decide.
Corbyn whipped Labour MPs on 27 March to back ‘second referendum’ plans as an option for ending the Brexit impasse. But he’s also tried carefully to respect and unite voters. Because both Leavers and Remainers backed Labour at the last election.
Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner also captured this sentiment, saying people shouldn’t define Labour as “a remain party”. And Twitter users helped to explain why:
Barry Gardiner is 100% correct. Labour is not a Remain Party. Labour is also not a Leave Party. All polling shows 15m+ voters want out & 15m+ want to stay in. Any party aspiring to govern should bring both sides together. Labour’s Plan is to Leave EU but Remain very close to EU
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) March 27, 2019
I voted remain, but I think this is wrong. I want @UKLabour to appeal to both remain and leave voters. Our CLP, the party's safest, voted 52% leave, 48% remain in the referendum. We are not going to ignore half our vote. We are a socialist, anti-austerity party.
— Alan Gibbons (@mygibbo) March 27, 2019
No we are not!
Labour is made up of those who voted remain and those that voted leave. It's also made up of those who couldn't give a flying fuck about brexit and want rid of the cruelest most corrupt and incompetent gvt in living memory! https://t.co/Y60dUM0g1i— Denis (@DD1958) March 28, 2019
SUMMARY:
May's deal & no-deal both terrible.
Remain & reform is probably best for Britain, but Leave won.
No majority in parliament for Second ref, Remain, or hard/no-deal Brexit.
Country very divided.
Therefore, try to find compromise (@UKLabour's position since ref). pic.twitter.com/oMBei0BYh6
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) March 27, 2019
In short, division across Leave and Remain lines is distracting us from what matters. And Labour gets that there are too many truly important issues at stake to foster even more division.
The urgent issues that can (and should) unite us
In my family, there’s one passionate Leaver and one passionate Remainer. Then there are two of us who think the endless Brexit debate is a dangerous distraction; one of the biggest in decades. Indeed, it’s distracted us from:
- The UN producing five separate reports slamming the UK government’s human rights violations, particularly against disabled people.
- Austerity – an extreme ideological assault on public services – leaving people homeless and children hungry (all while failing on its own terms).
- The global climate emergency; which hits the world’s poorest people the hardest and requires us all to make an urgent shift towards “healthier, more sustainable diets” while swapping fossil fuels for sustainable energy.
- A housing crisis marked by a chronic lack of social homes.
Meanwhile, there are many things Britain can agree on. We’re sick of public services not getting the funding they need. We agree with much stronger government action to tackle climate chaos. We believe in public ownership of railways, energy, water, education, and the NHS. And we oppose disastrous military interventions abroad (while wanting our country to stop selling arms to war criminals). We should also be able to agree that the Conservative Party is not the party to give us any of those things.
A better use of our passion and energy
The Tories haven’t only failed to get a Brexit deal parliament can get behind. They’ve also made Britain a worse place to live in.
It’s time to unite behind the truly important issues. So let’s have a general election. Let’s put the real problems on the table. Then voters can decide who we really trust to make the UK a better place to live in.
Featured image via YouTube – Guardian News / Wikimedia – Rwendland
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Whether you are a Leaver or Remain it would sensible to sign the Revoke Article 50 on line petition. A simple majority vote on the petition to draft a letter to the EU cancelling the Brexit horror show. Then a general election to follow. The election will be very revealing I’m sure observing who submits to eating humble pie , and who doesn’t.
2 1/2 years of having nothing resolved about the issue is a curse upon the Parliament, and the utter failure of to show any democratic principals by the Governement.
Ignore the 5.3 million people with the numbers still climbing at your peril,
It isn’t the politicains move any longer to decide for they have lost the priviledge of being elected to be deciding They have failed. They’ve had their 2 1/2 years. Now its only the public’s vote which counts, and back to basics of what democracy is.
If not, the parliament will be cursed for the foreseeable future by this craziness. It will never stop.
Time for humble pie, and a pint questioning “What has happened to us ” or “Where did we go wrong in lieing?
“What kind of drunk were we on”
“Was it really a coup of democracy by the neocons”?
They only promised austerity was over right?
The media are being deliberately obtuse on Labour’s position on this. Labour is quite right to uphold the result of the democratic vote unless the position becomes so dire that article 50 has to be revoked to save us from a calamitous no deal exit. Parliament now need to come together on what they think the best deal is including May’s and then put it to the people with a choice to keep the status quo which is remain. In other words. You were promised the moon and stars and got a damp squib. Do you still want this or do you want to stay as we are.
Corbyn talks of upholding a referendum result that is almost 3 years old, but wants an election when we just had one less that 2 years ago. Do you see the contradiction. He should have shown leadership and condemned the racist xenophobia that encouraged people to vote Brexit. For most people who voted Brexit it was ONLY about immigration (the “I’m not a racist but” bunch) claiming it was about foreigners taking jobs, when many Brexiters are actually retired and not looking for work anyway! The problems you mention, Austerity etc. will only get worse with Brexit, especially if the Tories no longer have the EU to moderate them. Yes, there are problems apart from Brexit but Brexit makes them worse.