Watching Britannia Unchained stumble in the aftermath of Brexit is as tragic as it was foreseeable. It required no oracular powers to predict the obvious perils of separating the United Kingdom from its closest and biggest trading partner, not to mention severing ancient ties thicker than blood. The financial future of Britain seems bleak after suicide by a thousand cuts. There is something gut-wrenching about it. More optimistic commentators may think that recovery is just around the corner, perhaps only a general election away. Is it, though?
Polls indicate a sweeping victory for the Labour Party in the next general elections, thanks to the manifold and grievous failures of the Tories – a catastrophic chain that began with the original sin of Brexit. The majority of British people now endorse rejoining the European Union by unmistakable and ever-widening margins. The European Union enjoys high approval ratings inside and outside of European borders. Labour voters in particular overwhelmingly rejected anti-European ideology during the 2016 referendum.
Making Brexit work?
And yet Europhiles in Britain may be looking at a grim and glum future. Keir Starmer, has repeatedly ruled out rejoining the European Union – much to the dismay of Europhiles worldwide. His campaign promise, increasingly at odds with his own constituency, is to “make Brexit work” — never mind that the Tories have repeatedly and tragically failed to do so. There is no magic formula that will “make Brexit work” and even the ideologues behind this unnatural disaster are increasingly coming to terms with bitter reality. For example, the staunchly conservative Telegraph recently published an article saying that ‘Project Fear’ was right all along. Weeks before her resignation, Liz Truss quietly shelved the so-called Bill of Rights Act’ – allowing the European Court of Human Rights to exercise jurisdiction over British courts and persons. Even multimillionaire Tory moguls are openly calling for the reversal of Brexit.
Keir Starmer’s position on Europe
The mystery deepens. What is the rationale behind Starmer’s position on Europe? Is it consistent with the principles of democracy for a prospective prime minister to disregard the popular mandate for the sake of clinging to a moribund idea that originates from the most extreme flank of the opposing party? Starmer is all too willing to participate in a conspiracy of silence about the many failures of Brexit. Britain’s GDP is shrinking? Silence. Brexit undermined Britain’s credibility on the world stage? Silence. The United Kingdom itself might break? Silence.
Is Starmer trying to outdo the toriest of Tories? Other politicians took note of the conundrum. To quote Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party: by “mutating into a pale imitation of Boris Johnson, Starmer is offering no real change at all.“
Some commentators have floated the idea that Starmer is afraid of an electoral wipe-out if he were to endorse ‘Rejoin.’ This would allegedly materialise in the form of ‘Red Wall’ voters refusing to vote for Labour. But the numbers are simply not on Starmer’s side. Even if we were to disregard the fact that Labour’s historic lead in the polls is directly attributable to the collapse of the Brexit project, any votes lost to the quasi-mythical ‘Red Wall’ can easily be replaced by younger demographics and swing voters who backed Leave during the referendum but who now regret it.
Starmer’s U-turn
To be fair, Starmer used to be something of a Europhile. He was no proponent of Brexit just three years ago, when he was Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary. He did advocate for a second referendum on EU membership for years. After he became Labour’s leader, however, Starmer took a particularly sharp and mysterious U-turn, even if this meant speeding down the wrong lane. And now it seems the lord is not for turning, despite abundant pressure from the press and the electorate.
And yet that which does not know how to bend will break. Whether Starmer will abandon his unpopular position and embrace the European project anew remains to be seen. If not, the same energies that have cracked and shattered the Tory bloc from within and without shall also topple Starmer’s clique. Again, it requires no oracular powers to predict that much.
