If you live in Britain and you aren't the sort who feels like looting shops and chucking bricks at the police in response to a school stabbing tragedy, and if you deplore the cheapening of British politics by the Trump-wannabes of Reform UK, you might want to register your support for a more international and inclusive worldview by coming to London on Saturday for the Rejoin EU march. (Strictly a peaceful and civilized affair, this, so angry old gammons may prefer to stay home and wrestle their XL bullies.)
If marching isn't your thing, there's an open letter you can sign. Or, if you're interested in the whole UK/EU question but don't have a strong view either way, or even if you still think Brexit could work out fine, you could just play Can You Brexit? and see how you get on. (Hint: if you just make decisions at random you'll still do better than the Tory governments of the last eight years.)
Still, we're all for evidence-based reasoning here. No ideology counts a jot against hard facts, so be sure to fully research the subject before you form an opinion, and be ready to update your opinion if the facts change.
I appreciate the sentiment. Unfortunately I don't see there's the slightest chance of us rejoining unless there's a overwhelming cross-party concensus.
ReplyDeleteFailing that, as soon as one party (presumably Labour or Lib Dems) starts talking about it, their opponents will denounce it from the rooftops, swear eternal opposition and to leave again the moment they return to power.
In such circumstances the EU won't waste their time in negotiations and who can blame them?
For the Conservatives to come round, if it happens at all, will take multiple election cycles. Especially with Ukip nipping at their heels.
And that's just the start of the issues. Getting back in, even if there was somehow unity on the matter is very much not a sure thing. It took multiple attempts before, and that was with a far smaller EU, who we hadn't already pissed off. It just takes one veto.
And even if the EU were all willing. Would we accept the reality of a new deal? We wouldn't get all those sweet heart deals, carve outs and exceptions second time round. We'd have to give up the pound and accept the Euro for a start. No more rebate on our contributions. Full sign up to the Schengen agreement and legislation. I can easily see a Uk political concensus to rejoing shattering in the reality of a new deal's negotiations.
I think you're right. In any case, it would only be worth Britain rejoining if they were willing to fully engage with the whole EU concept rather than remaining at arm's length, Groucho Marx style, as they did for decades. And as you say, the deal wouldn't be nearly as cushy as the one the Tory government tore up. A shame, as maybe the world is now slipping back into the dark days of the early 20th century -- instead of the ideal of rules-based internationalism: xenophobia, nationalism, zero-sum thinking, and self-gratifying paranoia. Another world war would cure us of that, but the patient wouldn't survive.
Delete