The abdication of the British political class

We have just seen a democratic decision by the British people that is as clear and unambiguous as it could be. In a simple referendum, with a simple question that a halfwit could understand, a clear majority decided that the UK should leave the EU.

There is no dispute about this that I have seen or heard. No claims of stuffed ballot boxes, or dodgy postal votes, like we heard for the Scottish Referendum. Nobody disputes that, after an arguably overlong and poorly informed campaign, a clear result was delivered. A result that shocked many, but unarguably a clear result.

So it is incumbent on the UK political class to act upon that result immediately. The people were promised during the campaign that article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty would be immediately triggered if the outcome was Leave. This is the article that gives 2 years of negotiating time for any state that is leaving the EU. These 2 years will be a vital time that will determine the future course for the UK. So it is clear that a coalition Government should be formed to urgently address the whole process and get on with the job. Political leadership is essential now.


Instead what do we get?

The Prime Minister resigns and refuses to trigger article 50. He makes plans to retire to his family tax haven, and utterly fails to do the right thing for the electorate and the country.

The media appointed "leader" of the Leave campaign refuses to trigger article 50 too. He was clearly more interested in being PM than doing the right thing for the country. He was a Remaindeer until February. His reincarnation as a Brexiteer seems contrived and a political pose.

The governing party goes into purdah to focus entirely on the scramble for a new leader. It decides to delay any action on Brexit until the new leader is in place, wasting the vital first few months.

The main opposition party triggers a Parliamentary coup to unseat its leader, who was elected by a large majority only last year. His crime? It isn't clear but, given that the Brexit decision was overwhelming in the opposition constituencies, and that the leader is himself a lifelong Brexiteer, maybe they think that it is his fault. But is it?

The main opposition party is unbelievably complacent. Lost in the London bubble and utterly failing to take account of the views of its constituents. The constituents that it theoretically "represents" vote overwhelmingly for Brexit, and the "professional" politicians seem surprised! To cap it all these opposition MP's think that they should not have to stand for re-selection by their constituency party at every General Election. They think that one victory gives them a lifelong right to be re-selected. Even if that victory is in a safe seat! Arrogant, complacent, failure to represent, failure to understand; a sorry bunch of nonentities.

The minor opposition party, whose whole raisin d'etre is Brexit, has only one seat despite millions of votes in the last GE. So they are hamstrung.

The Scottish opposition party, who have 50+ seats despite only a quarter of the votes of the minor opposition, reject the result entirely. Based on what? It is hard to tell. They lost their own "Independence" referendum only 2 years ago. Their snouts are now well and truly buried in the Westminster and Brussels troughs I expect. So maybe there is a clue.


So both main parties are rudderless and both minor opposition parties are hamstrung for one reason or another. And there is no action to proceed with the democratic instruction. It is a despicable abdication of responsibility by the whole political class.

They are acting like a rabbit in the headlights. They aren't used to this. They can normally fix things the way they like, so their snouts can stay firmly in the trough. Their golden EU pension pots will disappear! They are having to work for a change. Horror of horrors.

[What do they actually do at Westminster? 70+% of our laws are now handed down by the EU Commission. They have nothing to do other than intrigue and back-stab. Another good reason to have voted Brexit. Make them work for a living!]

The politicians credibility is already hanging by a thread. The referendum shows that clearly. A referendum is the only way that the UK electorate can hit the political class effectively. General Elections cannot do that. Only a few dozen seats are marginal, so all the rest are utterly useless for "kicking the bums out". There is no real accountability in this moribund "representative party democracy" of ours. No representation, as we have just seen. Utterly complacent parties, see above. Precious little real democracy, as we see every GE.

So that thread could snap if these fools don't wake up. They really are arrogant beyond belief.

We may need to sack them all and start again. Now there's an idea.....



Postscript:

If article 50 isn't triggered by 31st March 2017 then new EU rules will apply. Brexit will be subject to Qualified Majority Vote. Wtf's that? Don't ask. See this:

https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/brexitmarch-2017-stitch-up-rebutting-the-charge-of-nonsense-about-earlier-slogpost/

Maybe that is their game plan.