The nation’s focus is all on Brexit as a Tory soap opera: 48 signatures from the 1922 committee, a few big cheeses from the CBI, away days at Chequers. On the other side, there is this amorphous mass, “the people”, their views registering only in their millions, their protests reported as spectacle. The soap opera hots up when one of its characters says “scrap the Good Friday Agreement”, or “get pensioners to pick fruit”. The people get spooked when they’re told to stockpile food. The plot doesn’t move forward because the Tories can’t even agree a plan to take to the EU. People are endlessly polled on a series of repetitive and incomprehensible options, then commentators wonder why they don’t budge.
The opposition has so far played a minor role. Labour’s ambiguity seemed strategic in 2017, and paid off. It promised to respect the referendum result, yet at the same time assured a “jobs-first Brexit”. It was enough to placate the leavers, while assuring the remainers that nothing diabolical would happen.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2oibbH1
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