Pointless August 8, 2017
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
…is the word that comes to mind reading this in the Guardian…
Pro-EU campaigners are planning to stage one of their biggest “stop Brexit” marches outside the Conservative party conference this autumn.
Campaigners said their aim was to make the party “face up to the reality of Brexit” when they march to the conference centre to make sure their voices are heard by delegates inside.
Thousands are expected to turn out for the rally, starting in Platt Fields in Manchester on the first day of the conference – the same day as the traditional anti-Tory and anti-austerity protests held outside the gathering, which begins on 1 October.
Technically a reverse is possible, perhaps more likely is the issue being put on a long finger, but those who argue for remain are ignoring the reality that the political context has shifted completely. The prospect for remain is very very slim and an outright reverse would be functionally anti-democratic, however problematic the referendum vote was.
Moreover it’s a distraction because it channels energies towards an impossibilist position rather than towards pressurising the British government (and the BLP) to push towards EEA/EFTA membership. A mistake.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
But is there any point leaving the EU to join the EEA/EFTA aside from control of fisheries? Doesn’t that just mean giving up membership in the Commission and Council of Ministers whilst accepting most of the same rules?
I am indeed interested in how Labour can square this circle. But the EEA/EFTA line might not be the answer.
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Interesting how Richard North views the fisheries situation where control of fisheries may already be hugely constrained. I may well be wrong but my impression is that EEA/EFTA would actually offer a fair bit more space than that?
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can the UK just say “we want EEA/EFTA”‘? And hey presto – they get what they want!
Or do the EEA/EFTA members have to agree?
last I heard Norway was not in favour of UK joining them.
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I’ve heard that but not sure how much more than anecdotal it is. I suspect they wouldn’t be too put out as long as the UK played ball. In any event isn’t the UK already a member of EEA by default and it would continue to be so were it to join EFTA?
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How ‘functionally democratic’ was the original referendum in that no one had a clue what the consequences of the decision would be?
I would have thought that a referendum on ‘do we accept the agreement’ after October 2018, or whenever negotiations have to finish, would be far more democratic – in such a referendum people would actually know what they were voting about.
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While we were forced to vote again on two separate EU treaties because the ruling elite did not like the way we voted the first time and then spent €millions to win the second time, I don’t think the British people can be so easily crushed. The focus now should be to accept the decision and negotiate the terms of the relationship between the EU and the UK
which would be most beneficial to both like for example an agreed Customs Union.
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I think that’s what all of us want but the real problem us the UK govt feels like its AWOL on all this
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Nonsense – this wouldn’t be a case of the ‘EU elite’ not liking the first vote – it would be a case of the British people being given a choice over a concrete change where the implications and likely consequences are known.
A second referendum on Brexit is one democratic way to go, the other is a free vote in the British parliament.
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Much of the ‘EU elite’ would like shot of the Brits, at last. Some of us are concerned to minimise the damage to the British and Irish working class.
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