Although inside Parliament Brexit seemed to be in the same rut as it had been since the ridiculous decision to invoke Article 50 without any real plan or consensus as to what Brexit actually meant – enshrined in Mays mantra ‘Brexit means Brexit’ – things outside seemed to be hotting up. The Tories had the strange notion that entering negotiations was like were playing a poker hand rather than trying serious discussions with our European partners over how the difficult process might be best arranged, and there were so many legal arguments about how the referendum was carried out that should have been played out before the decision was taken. So many things called the result into question that it seems clear that had it actually been a binding referendum it would have been declared null and void.
Obviously I voted to remain largely because I felt the country would have much greater control over its trade negotiations as a part of a much larger entity than as a single smaller body and because I value some of the associations and benefits we have built up in cooperation with our European neighbours. And some of our deprived areas – and we have some of the worst in Europe – have benefitted greatly from money from Europe financing projects in a country where our national governments have so clearly favoured London and the surrounding area.
The referendum did not show a decisive majority in favour of leaving Europe, but a nation roughly split down the middle, and was the kind of result that another vote a few months earlier of later could well have reversed. And had we used other versions of eligibilty to vote it might well have been different. Hugely important constitutional change like leaving Europe should only have been triggered by a much more significant vote than a simple majority.
But we are where we are, even if nobody quite knows where that is at the moment. I went to Parliament to photogrpah on the morning when May’s deal was coming up for a vote – and the only sure thing seemed to be that virtually nobody though it was acceptable – and when the vote came there was a huge majority against it. I’m not sure if Brexit will come to a sensible conclusion, or exactly what that might be. Perhaps to revoke Article 50 and schedule another referendum, perhaps with the stipulation that it would only be binding on the government under similar conditions to those that have been imposed on trade union strike ballots!
The pavement opposite Parliament and beside College Green was pretty crowded in parts on this morning, and the group one of my colleagues calls the ‘yellow pests’ was out and very vocal along with the more reasonable protesters on both sides, harassing Steven Bray and his SODEM supporters and apparently any MP they could find, though I wasn’t a witness to that today.
More at Brexit protest against May’s Deal.
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My London Diary : London Photos : Hull : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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