Have parliamentarians forgotten? Britain voted to Leave

Too many politicians pay lip service to Brexit while doing their best not to implement it

by John Mills / May 24, 2018 / Leave a comment

Photo: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images

The Brexit negotiations are clearly in difficulties. A process which started out with reasonably clear objectives has become increasingly compromised. Remainers may not have been happy with the outcome of the 2016 European Union referendum, but at least it seemed reasonably clear where the result was leading. As laid out by the prime minister, we would leave the customs union and the single market and we would negotiate a free trade deal broadly along the lines of the existing Canadian model, hopefully with rather more on services than the EU agreement with Canada provides.

This is a deal which the EU27 would very probably have accepted. Arrangements of this kind would clearly have satisfied Leavers. With tariff-free trade and as much co-operation as possible—albeit on an intergovernmental basis rather than as a full member—on all other matters of common interest between the UK and the EU27, this outcome could well have assuaged most of the fears of Remainers.

At least we would then have saved ourselves from paying a very large net sum of money into the EU coffers every year. We would have regained control over our borders and our laws. We would have been able to disentangle ourselves from the common agricultural and common fisheries policies. We would have been able to negotiate trade treaties with whomever we wanted. These are important gains.

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Comments

Luke A
May 26, 2018 at 13:24
Politicians are elected on their ability to make decisions on our behalf (and any election promises they make). A referendum result doesn't change who our MPs are, and they continue to make decisions for us as they have been elected to do. As such, if a politician were to change their opinion of an issue based on a national poll, that would make them a populist.
Frank C.
May 27, 2018 at 20:02
The writer does not understand what the EU is,a rules[based organization between sovereign states which sustains an ever deepening Single Market which is naturally far more complex than may have been apparant when Maastrict or even Lisbon were signed. Its governance demands compromise and relentless attention to detail. We do not live in a mercantilist age, though Trump and Brexiteers would have it so. The Referendum was a protest vote and not much else. It fled life's compromises and complexities. Politicians who do not accept these realities are not doing their job. Politicians in the Commons know that If they don't deal with them then they are like flotsam and jetsam...amusing, entertaining Oxford debaters but...cast aside. Brexiteers might chose abdication, real politicians are responsible and must think about breakfast.

John Mills is a businessman and economist. He was Chair of Vote Leave, and founded Labour Leave