Excerpt from Prospect Magazine, written by Jonathan Lis dated 11/04/19.
The entire article can be found on twitter and worth a read.
Of course, the Remainers’ strength is not time alone. Comparing today’s chaos to the promises made three years ago is an exercise in humiliation which unites and galvanises voters alike. It is not simply that the Brexiters’ pledges have not been and cannot be delivered. Rather, the complacency of inept leaders and opportunism of charlatan patriots has brought the country to its knees.
How would voters in June 2016 have reacted to the news that, in April 2019, the prime minister would be begging France and Germany to allow us to remain longer in the EU? That we would find ourselves two days from voluntarily breaking up our trade infrastructure and introducing medicine shortages? That, around the world, Britain would stand as a by-word for political chaos and national disintegration? The argument for a referendum is not simply based on what voters think now. We should ask ourselves who in the Britain of 2016 could have wanted or voted for the Britain we inhabit today.
The longer this farce continues, the more people will decide that it is no longer worth the pain. May cannot deliver her deal. Parliament will continue in paralysis. A general election seems all but inevitable. All the while, the problem will remain a Brexit which we cannot implement without kneecapping our economy or our democratic oversight or both. Now the threat of no-deal has vanished, we have time to consider if this is the path we really choose. It now seems likelier than ever that it is not. The EU has compounded May’s nightmare, but Britain’s may soon be ending.
