Skip to main content

Leave voters are entitled to be angry

Those who voted Leave in the EU referendum are entitled to be angry.  They have been repeatedly misled.  But their anger is directed at the wrong side.  They should be mad with Leave politicians who have either used Brexit for their own political advantage, as with Boris Johnson or with those who told them Brexit would be smooth: "Brexit means Brexit".

Nobody discussed the need for a deal with the EU during the referendum.  Yet, as the Prime Minister has acknowledged, an agreement is necessary.  It is needed for a variety of reasons, not least to resolve the problem of the border with The Republic of Ireland and the Good Friday agreement.

A deal is necessary to protect supply lines for businesses and for jobs.  It is essential to ensure vital cross border collaborations on security and other issues.

Above all, Leave voters should be angry with politicians who asked them to vote but made no preparations for the likelihood that they would vote to Leave.  That, in a nutshell, is why we are in this mess.

We have been badly let down by those who tried to resolve the problems of the Tory party by an ill-considered referendum.

Listening to the Attorney General in parliament today and his bombastic performance, he repeatedly used three words "the truth is."  Now, why should that matter?  It matters because "the truth" isn't.  The truth has been secreted away, which is why the Prime Minister has been found with his proverbial pants down over prorogation of Parliament.  He tried to circumvent the sovereignty of Parliament, and he owes us all an apology, and not least the Leave voters he has repeatedly misled.

The truth has been missing from the outset of this sorry saga of Brexit.  The only thing one can say about it is that the voters have been misled, misled and misled again.    They were misled in the referendum, deceived in the general election, and they are being misled now.

Leave voters should not vent their anger at those who want to remain, or indeed those who wish to leave with a sensible deal.  They should vent their anger at those who use voter anger to their own political ends and risk breaking our constitution.   Those who stoke up hatred.  Those who would seek to undermine our judiciary and our parliament.

Leave voters should be angry with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ian Duncan-Smith says he wants to make those on benefits 'better people'!

By any account, the government's austerity strategy is utilitarian. It justifies its approach by the presumed potential ends. It's objective is to cut the deficit, but it has also adopted another objective which is specifically targeted. It seeks to drive people off benefits and 'back to work'.  The two together are toxic to the poorest in society. Those least able to cope are the most affected by the cuts in benefits and the loss of services. It is the coupling of these two strategic aims that make their policies ethically questionable. For, by combining the two, slashing the value of benefits to make budget savings while also changing the benefits system, the highest burden falls on a specific group, those dependent on benefits. For the greater good of the majority, a minority group, those on benefits, are being sacrificed; sacrificed on the altar of austerity. And they are being sacrificed in part so that others may be spared. Utilitarian ethics considers the ba...
7 comments
Read more

Ethical considerations of a National DNA database.

Plans for a national DNA database   will be revealed by the Prime Minister this week. This is the same proposal the Tories and Liberal Democrats opposed when presented by the Blair government because they argued it posed  a threat to civil liberties. This time it is expected to offer an 'opt-out' clause for those who do not wish their data to be stored; exactly how this would operate isn't yet clear. But does it matter and does it really pose a threat to civil liberties? When it comes to biology and ethics we tend to have a distorted view of DNA and genetics. This is for two reasons. The first is that it is thought that our genome somehow represents the individual as a code that then gets translated. This is biologically speaking wrong. DNA is a template and part of the machinery for making proteins. It isn't a code in anything like the sense of being a 'blueprint' or 'book of life'.  Although these metaphors are used often they are just that, metapho...
2 comments
Read more

Work Capability Assessments cause suffering for the mentally ill

People suffering from mental health problems are often the most vulnerable when seeking help. Mental health can have a major impact on work, housing, relationships and finances. The Work Capability Assessments (WCA) thus present a particular challenge to those suffering mental illness.  The mentally ill also are often the least able to present their case. Staff involved in assessments lack sufficient expertise or training to understand mental health issues and how they affect capability. Because of  concerns that Work Capability Assessments will have a particularly detrimental effect on the mentally ill,  an  e-petition  on the government web site calls on the Department of Work and Pensions to exclude people with complex mental health problems such as paranoid schizophrenia and personality disorders. Problems with the WCA  have been highlighted in general by the fact that up to 78% of 'fit to work' decisions are  being overturned on appeal. I...
3 comments
Read more