Reasons to Vote Conservative: Brexit
Least surprising news ever, but I am encouraging all friends, relatives and any person who has read this post to put the cross next to the Conservative candidate in your part of the world. For me, that is Amanda Jenner. For you, it could be Simon Hart or whoever it may be.
Brexit
This election whether we like it or loathe it, is about Brexit. All I can think to is Parliamentary chaos- frustration; politicians using every constitutional mechanism going to stop us legally leaving the EU without admitting it; the Labour Party claiming the Tories will do away with workers rights and environmental standards when it has been the Tories that have set our environmental standards higher than our European neighbours. Or politicians having a series of indicative votes on a range of solutions to the Brexit conundrum, but there being no majority for anything. Or the deadlines of March 29, April 12 and October 31 all being missed not because Parliament stood for anything but rather against everything. All polling indicates that there are only two outcomes this election: a Conservative majority government or a Labour-led Coalition with the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru all sitting with them but yet still being a minority government. The parliamentary shambles that has been the last two years would continue just with a different leader, with a second referendum with Corbyn’s so-called “Leave” deal which nobody could support versus Remain, leading to Remain which would ensure months of negotiations of what terms Britain would Remain in the EU on. In this position of weakness, the Euro, the cancellation of our rebate, Schengen, military union could all be on the table. A tiny Euro-sect of this country would endorse such a move, but the vast majority would despise it, with a vast majority feeling they have no real choice in that second referendum. Then there is Scotland- who would have their next referendum, despite the “No” vote polling the highest in a long time- but if faced in Westminster chaos pre-election, Scotland would march to separatism. If you thought Brexit was hard disentangling ourselves from 40 years of political union, Scexit would be harder, with a 300-year successful relationship coming to an end. Welsh separatist vote? Irish unification vote? This is not alarmism. This is a logical deduction- Coalitions of minority parties who have no unified view on the United Kingdom is not conducive to political stability. Britain’s international standing is not in tatters because of Brexit- it is in tatters because of the political establishment’s response to a very normal vote that took place in 2016. A Labour-minority led coalition would not solve this problem.
“If you thought Brexit was hard disentangling ourselves from 40 years of political union, Scexit would be harder, with a 300-year successful relationship coming to an end.”
Alternatively, Boris Johnson has negotiated a new withdrawal agreement- backstop-free. Imperfect yes. In all negotiations there are things you win and things you lose. The EU when Johnson came to office told him you can’t get rid of the backstop. Too little time. But the credible No-Deal threat granted Johnson some concessions. It is important to note that Brexit won’t be done if the Tories are elected. Stage 1 will be over. We will no longer be members of the European Union come January 31. Then the future trading relationship will need to be negotiated. Some say- Remainers again who said Boris could not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement- that there is no time to do a Canada-style free trade deal in less than one year, before the transition period comes to an end. It took Canada and EU four years from start-to-finish of initial negotiations. But what this overlooks, is that EU and UK have had free trade for 40 years. There already exists the basis of a free-trade deal- so it is completely different to Canada and EU starting negotiations from scratch.
Contrary to belief, the WA allows Brexit to go where it wants to. Boris wants Canada+. It can pivot to Norway or Single Market & Customs Union access. But what Johnson’s WA does allow is for the 2016 Brexit vote- 17.4 million people- to be honoured. An independent trade policy; supremacy of British laws, British courts and the British parliament; a fairer immigration policy for people wanting to come to the UK across the world; more control over taxpayers’ money; to lead the way in the world on the environment, animal welfare and trading standards. And most importantly allows us to put the Leave v Remain debate to bed- finally people of all sides can come together and say, “right, we’ve left. Now let’s try and work this out together.”
The election was called because of Brexit. It will either stop Brexit (without a majority of people endorsing this) or we will finally leave (which has been endorsed by a majority of people). This is the only way we can move on, and the Conservatives are (quite bizarrely) the only party who is committed to honouring that famous vote in 2016.
