6 May 2019
Farewell: prophetic banner on the 29 March demonstration, Westminster, on the date the country should have left the European Union. Photo Workers.
The establishment may want to thwart the people’s decision to leave the EU, but the people show no sign of recanting. The mood is hardening for a clean Brexit and against any dodgy deals cooked up by May or Corbyn that are Brexit in name only.
The recent local elections were an opportunity for people in England to punish both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party for their refusal to implement Brexit. The people delivered.
We are living in amazing, shifting times. The establishment is badly shaken. The Conservatives were hammered, Labour lost seats at a time when opposition parties ought to be making major headway. Independent candidates won nearly one in seven of all contested. There were piles of spoiled ballot papers, mostly from a Brexit stance.
Worse could well be on the way in the European elections on 23 May, with avowedly pro-Brexit candidates leading in the opinion polls.
Just not getting it
There are honourable people in both parties who are reacting by saying Brexit must be honoured. But the immediate response to the local elections shows that the party leaders were not “getting it”. Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are still obsessed by how to block democracy and negate the referendum result.
Misrepresenting the desire for Brexit as frustration at the indecisive nature of parliament recently, May and Corbyn seem inclined to engineer a dodgy deal around May’s Withdrawal Bill and Labour’s desire to stay in the Customs Union. They seem to want a compromise agreed quickly and pushed through parliament fast. These cross-party discussions are set to continue this week.
Voting in local elections, European elections and by-elections has an important part to play but it is not the only realm of struggle. Brexit must become the resounding roar in the villages, towns and cities of Britain. The Leavers’ organisations need to expand and grow in ambition and confidence to win the mood of the country for true independence.
If Labour does rush to bail out beleaguered May and her ever-dwindling government, it can expect a tsunami of anger to head its way. The people are not going to lie down and accept an obvious Westminster stitch-up to keep the EU in control of our country.
A stitch-up will not quell the desire for Brexit. It will only ensure it is more determined, more vocal, more organised. We voted out and we will accept no less.