Imminent Hard Brexit After House of Lords Vote
This is an update to the piece from last June - "Rule Brexitannia"
Photo by Alberto Zamora.
The #Blizzard2017 is hitting New York City this very moment. But my dreary mood is not fueled by the damp windows and cold winds. It rather is a result of yesterday's vote in the House of Lords.
Rereading my original piece from last June, I can't help but think how "soft" I was on David Cameron. Maybe it was too early, maybe I held back fearing sourcing bias up until the Brexit vote. On the surface it seemed to be a perfectly free and fair referendum. But the truth is voters were ill-informed and the press never really pressed the hard right enough or got to the "backstage" of the Conservative party's plans (or lack of) until it was too late.
Claims from the #Leave campaign were exposed as total BS and Theresa May's tenure as Prime Minister revealed an astounding degree of ambiguity towards future possible deals with Europe (access to the single market, the future of EU citizens in the UK, etc.) and yet her government has to this day jealously kept all the cards and it seems to have thoroughly strived to leave parliament out of any possible say in these negotiations.
Moments like her meaningless call for a "red, white, and blue Brexit" or the Foreign Secretary's casual dropping of, “I think that actually, as it happens, we would be perfectly OK if we weren’t able to get an agreement, but I’m sure that we will”, should have raised serious concerns in parliament, the press, and the public. Now it seems nothing can prevent Britain from crashing out of a "postwar liberal world order" which it helped to create and was arguably one of the greatest examples of its success.
Looking back on May's words, how are they in any way reassuring? More than anything they seem to be cynically crafted slogans to carefully avoid giving any specifications or details about any future deal.
I'm sorry to reach a dismal conclusion, but it really doesn't look like Cameron ever played to lose. And it looks like Scotland will be able to bail out from this mess in a year or two. It also seems Nick Clegg was right when he said this government is about to "collide with reality".
On the bright side, there is hope in younger generations, who by the way rejected this decision in large numbers. There's no reason to think they won't be able to reverse the damage and division this government will always be remembered for. But it will likely take many years. Especially if Scotland gets off this boat.
I for one will not forget Clegg's speech denouncing how this government "decided to spurn all friendship links with Europe".
As it stands, it is beyond me how anyone thought this was ever a good idea.
Nick Clegg launches passionate attack on former Coalition partners & their relationship with press during the Brexit debate in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/zYwcD6XRC9
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) January 31, 2017
