Tuesday, March 05, 2019

Brexit Betrayals


THE BRITISH ruling classes were profoundly annoyed at the outcome of the real “Peoples’ Vote” which took place on the 23rd June 2016 so every effort has been made to sabotage the result. first there was talk of a “soft Brexit” which in practical terms was to mean effectively remaining in the European Union in all but name to suit the City of London.
   In common with well-established EU practice that whenever the result of a particular referendum is not to the liking of the Franco-German ruling classes the voters are instructed, like slow schoolchildren struggling with their spelling, to go away and do it time and time again until they produce the right result. Hence we had the largely defunct “People’s Vote” campaign the name of which implies only robots and dogs were involved in the 23rd June vote.
   More recently we have had incredible scare stories which informed us that the sick will die for lack of medicine, or perhaps even worse the rich would run out of vintage champagne if a “No Deal Brexit” took place. As if the French were likely to miss a chance to sell overpriced bottles of fizzy wine.
   Thus it was no surprise that last Tuesday Prime Minister Theresa May promised MPs a vote on the 12th March which would yet further the delay the long overdue departure date. This will be on whatever withdrawal agreement, including any changes she has secured by then. If this fails MPs will be voting the next day on a no-deal departure. While this would be by far the best option for the working class, and reflect the demands of the 17 million Leave voters it is highly unlikely given the number of devotees of Franco-German capitalism on the green benches. Another vote on the 14th March would be on a two year extension to the Article 50 negotiations, which would effectively sabotage the whole process despite May claiming she wants to deliver the result “does not want to see Article 50 extended”.
   This would effectively sabotage the whole process despite May claiming she wants to deliver the result “does not want to see Article 50 extended”.
   Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn needs to grow a backbone and remember the views of his old mentor Tony Benn, a fervent and long standing opponent of the bankers’ ramp that is the EU. His support, declared on Monday, for the misnamed People’s Vote on the back of the Cooper-Letwin amendment to rule out a No-deal Brexit, which was withdrawn after May’s statement is a serious error of judgement. It is telling that support for this has been expressed by failed leadership candidate Owen Smith who was sacked last year from the party frontbench for advocating just such a second referendum.
   It is not often that the judgement of John Mann, the right wing Labour MP for Bassetlaw can be relied upon, but he was wise to recall that in 2010 Liberal-Democrat leader Nick Clegg took his party into Government on a pledge to end tuition fees. The breaking of that promise saw his party suffer a near wipe out in constituencies with large student populations.
   Working class voters, who were the backbone of the Leave vote which triumphed in the face of an unrelenting campaign by the British capitalist press, will be entitled to be angry at this retreat from the 2017 manifesto commitment to accept the referendum result.
   Not for the first time the House of Commons is full of self-important know-it-alls who think they know better than their constituents what is good for them.
   Of course there are many Labour voters, and dim-witted liberals who have learnt how to hold the Guardian the right way up who think that because Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage are opposed to the European Union it must therefore automatically be a good thing. These are the ones who need to be reminded of the nature of the EU.

No comments: