The government has to get a grip, stop fiddling around on the edges with distractions such as a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The priority is to break barriers to trade and science/technology investment. I don’t get why Brexit is brushed under the carpet and major journalists and economists don’t highlight the disaster as it is … we are isolated with no levers of influence
In the UK you have this incredible blessing of 5 year terms and very few veto points for the minority to use in the system to block things
LBJ ended segregation, passed 3 civil rights acts and the voting rights act (over filibusters) created Medicare and Medicaid and enacted The Great Society in 5 years (and still had time for a disastrous war)
Attlee nationalised coal, created the NHS, created NATO (with help but it was a UK idea) and formed an Economic system that lasted 30 years, he did all this while recovering from WW2 and in 5 years
Keating created superannuation, put in place enterprise bargaining, created the ACCC as part of broader competition policy and formed APEC all in 5 years as PM
But from Day 1 Starmer has acted like reelection is the most important thing. Why not just forget the polls, ignore the right wing papers, and just do things, use his 5 years to change the country, join the customs union, concrete over the green belt between Oxford and Cambridge fill it with houses and data centres, or don’t do any of that, just do things he wants to do, but do it, forget reelection, just change the country and who knows in 5 years the public might even reward you with reelection anyway
None of the heroic and monumental acts you listed took place against the backdrop of social media, 24/7 “news” channels as interested in making news (and giving their opinions) as reporting it, and interference by foreign governments who don’t share our interests. It is unlikely that there has ever been a time in which public opinion has been such an easy prey for the paddlers of lies. It has reached the point where nobody - from this time, from history, or from the future could properly govern the country. We can only look across the Atlantic, across Europe, and around the world and be thankful for small mercies. It won’t make us better off, but we’ll realise we are better off than many.
Problem is, the media will give Labour a kicking no matter what it does. The party had five years. It should have come out of the hate strong, and just did whatever it wanted to. Nuts to everyone else. It had a mandate. But now, it just comes across as timid and scared. Moreover, it doesn’t come across like there’s much of a narrative and a plan. The comms op is terrible. And Labour keeps setting massive red lines for itself that it daren’t then go back on, but then leave it with no room to move regarding the economy. It’s horrible to watch and disappointing to experience.
The government’s mandate only extends to what was in its election manifesto. While it may choose to do additional things, it doesn’t have a mandate for them.
The uK constitution is basically an elected dictatorship with elections every 5 years as the check and balance, if you don’t want that then you need a written constitution with minority protections built in
I’m not saying this is good or bad, it just is what it is, the High Court can block you but then as the Tory’s proved you can just pass legalisation that changes the law the court used to block you (unless it’s not ECHR compliant because the EU does have a written constitution hence why the Tory’s hate it, but Brexit happened and unilateral disarmament doesn’t work in politics, so if the Tory’s take advantage of it so should Labour)
The media DOES NOT MATTER if you are not obsessed with re-election. You have 5 year terms, a 180 seat majority and no veto points of any consequence for the minority to use to block your agenda. So just do things. Walk into parliament tomorrow and pass a law that rips up planning approval laws, defenstrate the NIMBYs in one shot, then concrete over the green belt. Go and join the Customs Union, let the Mail scream and let them win an election in 5 years and reverse it if they want, but you get 4 1/2 year of economic benefit in the meantime.
Stop using the media as an excuse, they are only an excuse if you are obsessed with re-election and if you take as your starting point 'I can change a country in 5 years' then re-election doesn't matter (and if you believe in what you are doing then you would see the benefits and win re-election anyway) but let the Mail throw a fit, let the Telegraph have a stroke, let Twitter bitch and moan, ignore it all, take your 180 seat majority and go and change the country
I think you’re arguing for an elected dictatorship. If so, that’s what separates us. I have no interest in party politics and I abhor political dogma. I want a government to act in the best interests of the country, not just their supporters. This means I prefer statesmen to politicians. I would not support, for example the idea of concreting over the green belt for short-term economic gains. Today is the 5th anniversary of Brexit and a suitable time to reflect on its effects on our country. Without wishing to resurrect all the old arguments, it does seem that investment has fallen since we left the EU. The government claims to want to encourage greater investment in our economy (perhaps to compensate for what we have lost) but doesn’t appear to have a plan for achieving it. Like it or not, investors have choices as to where to invest. They seek returns on their investments. It is only the government that can create an economic environment in which that can happen. I think tax concessions are the way to encourage investment. But this is difficult if we are governed by the politics of envy.
Another great piece Ian. Brexit is the great lie of our time - the UK equivalent of Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ peddled by shabby fourth-rate pseudo-intellectuals and right-wing lackeys (Gove, Hannan etc.). For the last eight years or so the Brexit lie has been aided and abetted by political ignorance, self-interest and a virtual conspiracy of silence in mainstream public life. Like you, I hope better days are to come.
It always wryly amuses me that the things that UK needs to do to get growth outside the EU - massive infrastructure and housing investment, significant increase in state capacity, new trade hubs - are all so much harder to do than just relaxing trade barriers with your neighbours. Brexit may have been won on easy mode, but its political legacy to UK politicians too scared to revise it is fiendish.
The lies didn’t triumph in Scotland. Yes, we had to go with the larger UK vote, but it remains a sore point. The Brexit denial and refusal by many politicians and media outlets to honestly tackle the Brexit legacy is shameful. Flogging a horse that was never alive in the first place.
- I remain uncomfortable with ‘rejoin’ regarding the EU. It suggests rewind. We need to ‘join’.
- On that, we need to make peace with being a normal EU country. That means Schengen. It means committing to the Euro. If we can’t do that, we are not ready.
- For people banging on about patriotism and sovereignty, an awful lot of Brexiters now seem very keen on ditching both and the UK being eradicated and its remains fusing with the US.
- On Leave voters, we should also be cautious: yes, you see a lot of them say Brexit has gone badly, but many believe that is because it hasn’t been done properly, not because they would change the decision that led us to where we are today.
I’m much more pessimistic than I once was. I (sadly) predicted that we’d leave, even guessed the cursed ratio, and assumed hard Brexit. But I also imagined we’d be back in the SM (or on the way to it) within a decade. We’re not even close. And it’s hard to know how we’ll get there. I imagine at the very least, we need:
- Minimum 60% pro-join *beyond* the ‘don’t knows’ (as in if every DK went no, we’d still need 60% saying yes to joining)
- Labour pro-join and Cons *at worst* impartial/accepting of that eventuality – but ideally doing a U-turn and perhaps even trying to outmanoeuvre Labour on this
- Political stability likely into the reasonably distant future – which is basically impossible under the current circumstances (Cons deranged; Ref resurgent; media acting like LD and Greens don’t exist) and with FPTP
Oh, and it’d be nice if Labour would stop conflating everything vaguely like its (absurd) red lines with the actual red lines, eg:
- The PEM is not the customs union. (Media: ask why we won’t join PEM when basically every other economy in our geographic region – including many outside of the EU – are members.)
- A YMS is not ‘freedom of movement’. (Media: ask why specifically we can’t have a YMS with the EU when we have ones with other countries.)
It wasn’t just the lies, it was the complete and utter disregard for any kind of serious analysis.
I forget the name of the man who coined the word ‘Brexit’. Wasn’t it a British EU functionary with very strong links to the (then) Tory party. He said that during and after the campaign, he kept on getting calls from sitting Tory MPs asking him what this ‘single market’ stuff was.
I'm guessing a lot of these Brexit voters, who now admit it's gone badly, are voting for Reform, believing Farage would've delivered what they voted for *sigh*.
How I wish Starmer would speak up in clear and simple terms on the matter of Brexit being an irrational, emotional act of national self-harm. That people with legitimate sufferings were manipulated to vote for it in service to an oligarchy wanting deregulation to increase their profit at the expense of workers’ living and employment standards.
As someone who in childhood was taken on a school trip to see the Folkestone end of the Channel Tunnel under construction and who vividly remembers Thatcher’s excited support for the economic benefits of expanding the market for our businesses large and small, it could never make sense.
What will it take for a PM to say “We have tried. It doesn’t work.” The thought fills me with dread, but - war?
Brexit pulled the rug on the scientific research & clinical trials sector. Once leading edge, and a geographical location for the conduct of robust trials, now that the UK is no longer part of the EU we’ve lost the “mutual recognition” advantage. All our clients are going elsewhere, Europe, the US, even Australia. The MHRA imploded and VC funding is challenging to come by in the current economic climate, the combination has resulted in redundancies the length & breadth of the country.
The government has to get a grip, stop fiddling around on the edges with distractions such as a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The priority is to break barriers to trade and science/technology investment. I don’t get why Brexit is brushed under the carpet and major journalists and economists don’t highlight the disaster as it is … we are isolated with no levers of influence
In the UK you have this incredible blessing of 5 year terms and very few veto points for the minority to use in the system to block things
LBJ ended segregation, passed 3 civil rights acts and the voting rights act (over filibusters) created Medicare and Medicaid and enacted The Great Society in 5 years (and still had time for a disastrous war)
Attlee nationalised coal, created the NHS, created NATO (with help but it was a UK idea) and formed an Economic system that lasted 30 years, he did all this while recovering from WW2 and in 5 years
Keating created superannuation, put in place enterprise bargaining, created the ACCC as part of broader competition policy and formed APEC all in 5 years as PM
But from Day 1 Starmer has acted like reelection is the most important thing. Why not just forget the polls, ignore the right wing papers, and just do things, use his 5 years to change the country, join the customs union, concrete over the green belt between Oxford and Cambridge fill it with houses and data centres, or don’t do any of that, just do things he wants to do, but do it, forget reelection, just change the country and who knows in 5 years the public might even reward you with reelection anyway
None of the heroic and monumental acts you listed took place against the backdrop of social media, 24/7 “news” channels as interested in making news (and giving their opinions) as reporting it, and interference by foreign governments who don’t share our interests. It is unlikely that there has ever been a time in which public opinion has been such an easy prey for the paddlers of lies. It has reached the point where nobody - from this time, from history, or from the future could properly govern the country. We can only look across the Atlantic, across Europe, and around the world and be thankful for small mercies. It won’t make us better off, but we’ll realise we are better off than many.
Problem is, the media will give Labour a kicking no matter what it does. The party had five years. It should have come out of the hate strong, and just did whatever it wanted to. Nuts to everyone else. It had a mandate. But now, it just comes across as timid and scared. Moreover, it doesn’t come across like there’s much of a narrative and a plan. The comms op is terrible. And Labour keeps setting massive red lines for itself that it daren’t then go back on, but then leave it with no room to move regarding the economy. It’s horrible to watch and disappointing to experience.
The government’s mandate only extends to what was in its election manifesto. While it may choose to do additional things, it doesn’t have a mandate for them.
The uK constitution is basically an elected dictatorship with elections every 5 years as the check and balance, if you don’t want that then you need a written constitution with minority protections built in
I’m not saying this is good or bad, it just is what it is, the High Court can block you but then as the Tory’s proved you can just pass legalisation that changes the law the court used to block you (unless it’s not ECHR compliant because the EU does have a written constitution hence why the Tory’s hate it, but Brexit happened and unilateral disarmament doesn’t work in politics, so if the Tory’s take advantage of it so should Labour)
Its like you are totally ignoring the point
The media DOES NOT MATTER if you are not obsessed with re-election. You have 5 year terms, a 180 seat majority and no veto points of any consequence for the minority to use to block your agenda. So just do things. Walk into parliament tomorrow and pass a law that rips up planning approval laws, defenstrate the NIMBYs in one shot, then concrete over the green belt. Go and join the Customs Union, let the Mail scream and let them win an election in 5 years and reverse it if they want, but you get 4 1/2 year of economic benefit in the meantime.
Stop using the media as an excuse, they are only an excuse if you are obsessed with re-election and if you take as your starting point 'I can change a country in 5 years' then re-election doesn't matter (and if you believe in what you are doing then you would see the benefits and win re-election anyway) but let the Mail throw a fit, let the Telegraph have a stroke, let Twitter bitch and moan, ignore it all, take your 180 seat majority and go and change the country
I think you’re arguing for an elected dictatorship. If so, that’s what separates us. I have no interest in party politics and I abhor political dogma. I want a government to act in the best interests of the country, not just their supporters. This means I prefer statesmen to politicians. I would not support, for example the idea of concreting over the green belt for short-term economic gains. Today is the 5th anniversary of Brexit and a suitable time to reflect on its effects on our country. Without wishing to resurrect all the old arguments, it does seem that investment has fallen since we left the EU. The government claims to want to encourage greater investment in our economy (perhaps to compensate for what we have lost) but doesn’t appear to have a plan for achieving it. Like it or not, investors have choices as to where to invest. They seek returns on their investments. It is only the government that can create an economic environment in which that can happen. I think tax concessions are the way to encourage investment. But this is difficult if we are governed by the politics of envy.
Ian - and Sir Ivan Rogers, are voices of reason that remind me that insanity is not a given.
Good to see a nod to UKICE. They have been a trusted source of information and a credible forum for debate through the whole Brexit process.
Another great piece Ian. Brexit is the great lie of our time - the UK equivalent of Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ peddled by shabby fourth-rate pseudo-intellectuals and right-wing lackeys (Gove, Hannan etc.). For the last eight years or so the Brexit lie has been aided and abetted by political ignorance, self-interest and a virtual conspiracy of silence in mainstream public life. Like you, I hope better days are to come.
It always wryly amuses me that the things that UK needs to do to get growth outside the EU - massive infrastructure and housing investment, significant increase in state capacity, new trade hubs - are all so much harder to do than just relaxing trade barriers with your neighbours. Brexit may have been won on easy mode, but its political legacy to UK politicians too scared to revise it is fiendish.
The lies didn’t triumph in Scotland. Yes, we had to go with the larger UK vote, but it remains a sore point. The Brexit denial and refusal by many politicians and media outlets to honestly tackle the Brexit legacy is shameful. Flogging a horse that was never alive in the first place.
On the plus side, it took Brexit for me to discover Ian Dunt. Shame about it ruining the country, but, y'know.
A few thoughts:
- I remain uncomfortable with ‘rejoin’ regarding the EU. It suggests rewind. We need to ‘join’.
- On that, we need to make peace with being a normal EU country. That means Schengen. It means committing to the Euro. If we can’t do that, we are not ready.
- For people banging on about patriotism and sovereignty, an awful lot of Brexiters now seem very keen on ditching both and the UK being eradicated and its remains fusing with the US.
- On Leave voters, we should also be cautious: yes, you see a lot of them say Brexit has gone badly, but many believe that is because it hasn’t been done properly, not because they would change the decision that led us to where we are today.
I’m much more pessimistic than I once was. I (sadly) predicted that we’d leave, even guessed the cursed ratio, and assumed hard Brexit. But I also imagined we’d be back in the SM (or on the way to it) within a decade. We’re not even close. And it’s hard to know how we’ll get there. I imagine at the very least, we need:
- Minimum 60% pro-join *beyond* the ‘don’t knows’ (as in if every DK went no, we’d still need 60% saying yes to joining)
- Labour pro-join and Cons *at worst* impartial/accepting of that eventuality – but ideally doing a U-turn and perhaps even trying to outmanoeuvre Labour on this
- Political stability likely into the reasonably distant future – which is basically impossible under the current circumstances (Cons deranged; Ref resurgent; media acting like LD and Greens don’t exist) and with FPTP
Oh, and it’d be nice if Labour would stop conflating everything vaguely like its (absurd) red lines with the actual red lines, eg:
- The PEM is not the customs union. (Media: ask why we won’t join PEM when basically every other economy in our geographic region – including many outside of the EU – are members.)
- A YMS is not ‘freedom of movement’. (Media: ask why specifically we can’t have a YMS with the EU when we have ones with other countries.)
It wasn’t just the lies, it was the complete and utter disregard for any kind of serious analysis.
I forget the name of the man who coined the word ‘Brexit’. Wasn’t it a British EU functionary with very strong links to the (then) Tory party. He said that during and after the campaign, he kept on getting calls from sitting Tory MPs asking him what this ‘single market’ stuff was.
Unfortunately, he refused to name names.
Although my mind has not changed for a second that we should never have left, nearly 10 years on I emphatically would NOT campaign to rejoin EU.
Complete waste of time & political effort which would be meat & drink to Farage & co.
Just do the deals like this one 👇🏻 without all the noisy headlines.
Source: BBC News https://search.app/hEK6Tgcn61BeoLV19
I'm guessing a lot of these Brexit voters, who now admit it's gone badly, are voting for Reform, believing Farage would've delivered what they voted for *sigh*.
How I wish Starmer would speak up in clear and simple terms on the matter of Brexit being an irrational, emotional act of national self-harm. That people with legitimate sufferings were manipulated to vote for it in service to an oligarchy wanting deregulation to increase their profit at the expense of workers’ living and employment standards.
As someone who in childhood was taken on a school trip to see the Folkestone end of the Channel Tunnel under construction and who vividly remembers Thatcher’s excited support for the economic benefits of expanding the market for our businesses large and small, it could never make sense.
What will it take for a PM to say “We have tried. It doesn’t work.” The thought fills me with dread, but - war?
Another great article…thank you.
Brexit pulled the rug on the scientific research & clinical trials sector. Once leading edge, and a geographical location for the conduct of robust trials, now that the UK is no longer part of the EU we’ve lost the “mutual recognition” advantage. All our clients are going elsewhere, Europe, the US, even Australia. The MHRA imploded and VC funding is challenging to come by in the current economic climate, the combination has resulted in redundancies the length & breadth of the country.
And made rascist views more acceptable for many the most damaging aspect of brevity I under estimated at time sad