It’s never really been a secret that Conservative Eurosceptics have a lemming-like suicidal inclination regarding the future of the UK. This was made abundantly clear this week when Iain Duncan Smith confirmed that Brexiters will not be publishing a detailed alternative to Theresa May’s Chequers plan. This decision was prompted in part because of tensions within the Brexit camp and by the fear that the government would pick holes in its policy proposals.
Duncan Smith defended the inaction by saying it wasn’t up to Brexiters to present an alternative (even though they said they would) but for the government to revise its plan. It beggars belief. More than two years after winning the referendum Brexiters still haven’t come up with a workable blueprint on what Brexit should look like. So along with that lying and cheating waste of space Boris Johnson they’re just going to sit on the sidelines blowing raspberries at the prime minister while lobbing spanners into the works. The risk of a no deal appears higher every week.
The PM may argue that no deal is better than a bad deal but as Corbyn said when he ran rings around her at a recent PMQs “no deal is a bad deal”. One of the reasons why this should concern us is that according to the government’s own impact assessments the cost of a no deal would hurt us more than our current European partners. We would lose 8% GDP over the next 15 years while they would lose 1.5% in the same period. The explanation for this is simple. They lose trade with one country while we lose it with 27.
It’s time now for the Labour leader to really step up to the plate. If he were to call for a second referendum there is every chance it could happen. There is a growing appetite in Westminster for the so-called people’s vote, the pressure for it is building within his own party and the unions are coming around to the idea. The result would keep us in the union and could lead to the fall of this dreadful government.
Sadly, there is only one flaw in this otherwise brilliant plan: Jezza’s not really all that enthusiastic about Europe so he may just continue sitting on his hands.
