{"id":2146,"date":"2018-11-13T11:59:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T06:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2018-11-13T11:59:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T06:29:08","slug":"its-time-for-another-referendum-on-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/its-time-for-another-referendum-on-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for another referendum on Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Relevant for General Studies-Paper 2:-<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>With less than six months to go before Britain is slated to leave the European Union (EU), the shape of its withdrawal arrangements and future relationship with Europe remain perilously unclear. As a beleaguered UK government contemplates a stalemate in Parliament, the calls are growing for a second referendum. The recent spectre of 700,000 citizens marching to Parliament Square in support of a \u2018people\u2019s vote\u2019 have firmly brought the issue into the spotlight. It is a proposition that deserves serious consideration in the face of a looming no-deal scenario.<\/li>\n<li>As a starting point, the British government\u2019s official position was unveiled earlier in the year at Chequers, the prime minister\u2019s country residence. Theresa May\u2019s so-called \u2018Chequers plan\u2019 outlined a vision for the UK and the EU to maintain a \u201ccommon rulebook for all goods\u201d, including agri-food, with the UK making an upfront choice to commit by treaty to ongoing harmonization with EU rules. A crucial ingredient was a convoluted \u201cfacilitated customs arrangement\u201d that would remove the need for customs checks and controls between the UK and the EU as if it were a combined customs territory. Chequers achieved the perverse outcome of unifying the Europeans and the hard right faction of the Tory party in vehement objection.<\/li>\n<li>The proposals were spectacularly rebuffed by EU leaders at Salzburg\u2019s September summit on the basis that they amounted to \u2018cherry-picking\u2019 and undermined the single market by not including the freedom of movement. At home, the plan triggered the heavyweight resignations of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary and David Davis as Brexit secretary on the footing that it stood to dilute the very essence of Brexit. The symbolism of Johnson\u2019s departure as the architect of the Leavers could not be underestimated. It stoked a mood of discontent with May exposed to rebellious backbenchers.<\/li>\n<li>Hardliners within the Tory party have favoured a free-trade agreement modelled on the EU-Canada template. Yet, this hasn\u2019t received broad support in Westminster. The Canadian deal took years to negotiate and, crucially, doesn\u2019t cover services. It was not intended to serve as a blueprint for a deeply interconnected relationship such as Britain\u2019s. The UK government hasn\u2019t favoured it either. Reaching a consensus on its basic parameters before March-end is thought to be illusory. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some right-wingers who would be ideologically content with a no-deal scenario because it would at least deliver Brexit. Unsurprisingly, this virulent posture doesn\u2019t have a parliamentary majority backing it.<\/li>\n<li>Moderate Tories have been utterly squeezed. They were dismissed by May in the early part of her premiership and their appeal to pragmatism has often left them isolated within their own party. Some have outlined an option modelled on Norway\u2019s status as a member of the European Economic Area with single market membership but not EU membership. Yet, the politically toxic freedom of movement that attaches to the Norway model hasn\u2019t produced voluble parliamentary proponents.<\/li>\n<li>What about the Labour party? The principal opposition\u2019s stance is a bundle of contradictions masquerading as a policy. Labour has supported leaving the single market and the customs union but, at the same time, has said it will back the government only if it delivers an outcome that preserves current benefits. Go figure! Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s Euroscepticism has driven a party of largely remainers to an uncomfortable space. Given the Tory convulsions, Labour has failed to seize the advantage.<\/li>\n<li>What does this all mean? Put simply, short of a last minute swerve, the odds point to a parliamentary stalemate. There is a majority against every conceivable solution but none in favour of a tangible one. Chequers has been savaged, there is little momentum for a Canada-style model, Norway hasn\u2019t got the numbers, and so on. T.S Eliot\u2019s maxim that \u201cin a minute there is time and decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse\u201d appears to have been embraced wholeheartedly in this circular farrago. Against this backdrop, with a no-deal scenario looming, a people\u2019s vote seems to be a mechanism to cut through the parliamentary impasse. Far from being a counter-democratic manoeuvre, it would put the key structural choices to the electorate for resolution.<\/li>\n<li>From a European perspective, a certain degree of\u00a0<i>schadenfreude<\/i>\u00a0would be understandable. Yet the truth is that the European pipedream of an \u2018ever closer union\u2019 continues to ignore a range of anxieties within member states on immigration, welfare spending and excessive centralization. Witness the rise of right-wing populism in Austria, Italy, Hungary and Germany as an example. The classic European response to such anxieties has been to pretend they do not exist. However, that can only fuel greater apathy and resentment for another day.<\/li>\n<li>Turning back to Brexit, a people\u2019s vote should be seriously considered if parliament fails to reach a consensus. Contingency planning for a vote should commence. Meanwhile, at a time where protectionism is on the rise, it remains ever more important for Britain and Europe to promote the case for free trade. Warring Tories should remember this. The onus is also on EU politicians to demonstrate ideological flexibility. Otherwise, the risks of a Brexit no-deal scenario will be much worse for everyone involved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevant for General Studies-Paper 2:- With less than six months to go before Britain is slated to leave the European<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-bio-diversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2147,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146\/revisions\/2147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}