Unfinished Business

We don't respect democracy or the will of the people, apparently.

Over 700,000 of the people whose will we don't respect turned out to march on Saturday in support of a People's Vote on the deal that Theresa May finally brings back from Brussels - the deal, or no deal, that will determine the terms on which we are due to leave the EU on March 29th.

Here's the thing that puzzles me - we are told that we are not allowed to question the result of the referendum and must accept the deal that Theresa May negotiates, yet Leavers such as Michael Gove openly state that they will only accept that self same deal temporarily and that a future government would seek to change the terms. In other words Leavers who don't agree with any form of compromise deal want to strike it out against the wishes of those who may have voted for exactly that compromise deal - those who were no doubt led to that decision by the likes of Daniel Hannan stating that "no-one is contemplating leaving the single market". And yet at the same time we, the non-respectors of democracy, are not permitted to campaign to change that compromise deal back into a decision to remain. It seems that Leavers want to ensure a one-sided ongoing debate about the final outcome of this debacle. How convenient for them - silence all opposition and then push for their own version of Leave. Their hypocrisy is quite breathtaking.

Does anyone seriously think that Farage will cease all campaigning if Theresa May does come back from Brussels with a compromise that keeps us in the single market and customs union? Would he pack up and happily accept that the UK is now a rule taker? Of course not! He would resume campaigning for an exit on WTO terms - in defiance of the outcome of the negotiations. And in the very next breath he will condemn us as unpatriotic traitors for daring to suggest that not all Leave voters shared the same motivation or wanted the same outcome, and for continuing to campaign for what we believe in.

The Leave vote was not homogenous - it cannot be assumed that all Leave voters would be happy with no deal, or any other deal for that matter. Whatever the final choice, it should be put back to the people to confirm whether or not there is truly a majority for the particular variant of Leave on offer. But the reality is that the Leave campaign are opposed to a confirmation vote not because they value democracy above all else but because they feel in their heart of hearts that the result in 2016 was a fluke they will be unable to repeat. The truth is they don't want the people to be allowed to vote again now that they are better informed. That's not democracy in anyone's language.

I will leave you with the words of none other than Farage himself during the 2016 referendum campaign when he thought he was on course for a narrow defeat - "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. [But] if the Remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it."

Enough said.