Saturday 24 August 2019

What is the future for Remainers after Brexit?

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It is astonishing how divided Great Britain still is about Brexit and how few people have changed their minds. I expected Leavers to have buyers' remorse. Sir John Curtice the great psephologist said a couple of days ago,
“If we are talking about Remain vs. Leave, the question that was asked three years ago, at the moment it is 52 percent Remain, 48 percent for Leave. The reason it is slightly pro-Remain is not because the Leave vote is markedly softer … rather those people who did not vote three years ago, if they express a view, are consistently in the polls two-to-one in favour of Remain. This is the crucial vote. The question is whether this group would turn out to vote or not.”
A much more important question is whether they will have the chance to vote on Brexit either in a second referendum or in a general election before Brexit.

Boris can prorogue Parliament and probably should until we leave automatically by the will of Parliament on 31 October- or he can just extend the recess.

But he might want to be defeated in a confidence vote and go to the people on fighting for the people versus MPs  - compare the Liberal 'Peers versus People' campaign in January 1910.


After Brexit what happens to Remain enthusiasts? Especially if Brexit goes reasonably well? I do not know but I do know that the idea of a borderless world, popular with young students and graduates though less so with the half the population who do not go to university, has to be defeated in patient argument. This is very much more important than Brexit. It is existential, to use that silly word.

4 comments:

  1. But he might want to be defeated in a confidence vote and go to the people on fighting for the people versus MPs - compare the Liberal 'Peers versus People' campaign in January 1910.

    Pretty risky surely. A good chance of a hung parliament with the Liberal Democrats winning huge numbers of seats. Especially if supporters of parties like the Greens switch their votes to the LibDems in order to stop Brexit. And Remainers are going to be very very motivated to turn up and vote.

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    1. it looks like Labour hopes to keep its Remain voters. I think the Government should prorogue Parliament.

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  2. Younger people do not necessarily deplore borders. What they fear is the economic fallout of Brexit. Recession and austerity limited young people's earning power, which is already narrow for those not in the tech field. Young people are worried about being stuck in a poorer post-Brexit Britain with diminished mobility.

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    1. Every young person has his own opinion and many are enthusiasts for Brexit - but many do tend to think that supranational bodies are progressive and nation states regressive. Young people in manual work see a lot of competition from immigrants.

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