Your say / Politics
‘The public now need to be called in to decide Brexit’
We have now in our country a serious constitutional crisis that, if not solved, will have dire consequences for many people and businesses for many years to come.
We have witnessed quite shocking failure and millions of people who are normally not interested in politics are angry and upset.
The question “do you want to leave the EU or not” was put in 2016 to the British people: 17.4 million, that is 52 per cent, said “yes” and presumably everyone who said “yes” or “no” had their own reasons for doing so. They were not all the same.
is needed now More than ever
The trouble is that, since that time, Conservative and, to a lesser extent, Labour politicians have been arguing about what the instruction actually meant. Debates have become very heated and most people have dug into their original positions and are demanding to know why the government has not acted upon their instructions.
There are some who have changed their minds or who now say that they had been given misleading info before and these may or may not have changed the outcome.
While the two wings of the Conservative Party blame each other businesses are suffering, with the Lib Dems, Greens, Change UK, Welsh and Scottish Nationalists all in favour of remaining and calling for a new vote.
Brexit and UKIP parties are saying “just get out without negotiation” and the main Tory position and that of Labour is somewhere in between. They both join the remain parties in warning about the dangers of a non-negotiated leave and, whatever the truth of the financial dangers, we would suffer a blow to our reputation if we did not agree the financial settlement.
Anne Widdecombe of the Brexit party, is one of the South West’s new MEPs – photo courtesy of Sky News
The result of the European Elections in aggregate was 35 per cent to leave ‘no deal’ and 40 per cent to the remain parties – with the Tories and Labour being squeezed in the middle, down to historical low evils of support.
As a result of the pressure, the Tories may well pick a new leader who attempts to follow the “leave with no deal route” and the Labour Party may join the remain camp.
If this ‘no deal’ leave is attempted, then the remain parties and Labour will seek to block it – but what would the Tory MPs who oppose no deal do?
Would they seek to keep their party together or rebel and join the remainers? Would both of the Labour and Tory parties want a general election given the pounding they have just taken? I doubt it.
The result is stalemate with none of the three groupings agreeing.
Surely the public now need to be called in to decide, as it is clear the politicians cannot agree? ‘No deal’, the ‘negotiated deal’ on the table and ‘remain’ should be put to the public with a first and second preference.
This is not an excuse for a reversal of 2016 but a clarification of what people want. Ironically, the no deal Brexiteers need the referendum as much as the remainers as it seems that MPs will not agree to their stance.
As a remainer, I think it is preferable to risk a ‘no deal’ exit rather than years of increasingly bitter wrangling.
Although as a Lib Dem, the largest remain party, it is good to see so many new supporters from Labour and the Tories and lots of new MEPs, it is in the country’s interests for this to be settled quickly.
Gary Hopkins is the leader of Bristol’s Liberal Democrat group and a councillor for Knowle ward
Read more: ‘A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to derail Brexit’
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