Wednesday , December 11 2024

Time to end the national humiliation – #LetsGoWTO

Yesterday epitomised the farce that Parliament has descended into. For the second time in one week (to say nothing of the multiple previous rejections), the Remainer Parliament rejected four Remain alternatives – hand picked for them by a biased, self-aggrandizing, buffoonish Remain supporting speaker. The lead proponent of Norway Plus (or what more accurately should be known as Andorra because Norway is not in the Single Market) threw a self-pitying temper-tantrum from losing again and left the Conservative party.

This same Parliament that has (narrowly but thankfully) rejected the bizarre desire to have Britain as part of a Customs Union when Norway and Iceland won’t join it, has also made their opinions known on the other options. They rejected the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. Not once, not twice, but three times. They have also, through non-binding motions, voted “against No Deal” and they have also rejected membership of the Single Market. This is a Parliament that demands to have their voices heard, again and again and again; and yet nearly three years after the Referendum vote can’t figure out what to say.

Enough is enough. What Parliament has voted for is to Leave the EU – with or without a deal. They voted to trigger Article 50 and they passed the EU Withdrawal Act of 2018. The time for whinging about how much one dislikes Brexit or wants to “soften” (dilute) the largest vote for anything in British history is over. It’s time to move on.

Another extension and participation in the EU elections would be a national humiliation. It would show that Parliament is absolutely incapable of implementing the decision of the people that they gave the choice to. Or, more cynically, it shows that Britain is in fact a banana Republic where democracy is non-existent. It would cast Britain in a weak and humiliating light to the whole world. Britain’s friends and admirers would shake their head in disbelief on how the country that had and has so much power, would rather be ruled by bureaucrats from a sluggish European continent than rule themselves and pioneer free trade across the globe.

We at the Daily Globe wanted a deal. We wanted a Canada Plus deal – the A+ model that would have tariff free trade with the EU. We even would have accepted May’s horrible deal, warts and all, if the backstop was removed – as Parliament endorsed in the Brady amendment. We backed the Malthouse compromise. But Theresa May failed to embrace those exciting options.

There is only one viable option for any nation with an ounce of dignity and self-respect. Leave. Leave and trade with the EU on WTO terms. Both sides are ready. (See this great piece from Briefings for Brexit). Will there be some bumps and adjustments to the new trading order? Of course, though they are likely exaggerated. But no self-respecting nation can be so pathetic, especially one with record high employment and the world’s 5th largest economy (and with the world’s largest, America, ready to sign a free trade deal the day of Brexit), as to sacrifice their nation’s sovereignty and democracy for fear of possible supply chain disruptions and minor tariffs.

It is time for Britain to quit this embarrassing parliamentary squabbling. Encouragingly, the Telegraph has reported the majority of the cabinet are now behind WTO Brexit, as are the majority of the Conservative MPs and Conservative party members. Now the Prime Minister must grow a spine. The UK must take the leap and grab their independence. It’s time to go WTO.

About Ted Yarbrough

Ted is the co-founder and editor of the Daily Globe. He is a long-time blogger on British politics and has written a thesis on Thatcherism.

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One comment

  1. Yes, Canada + or even May’s deal with a limited backstop were feasible.

    It is now time to undo all the EU Nationalist rhetoric. It is not Brexit but Independence that we are fighting for, there are no Remainers, they are EU Nationalists, there are no Leavers but people who want to preserve and enhance our independence.

    We have not “learnt” anything since the referendum, the terrors of “No Deal” are the same Project Fear that was opposed to leaving the EU in the referendum and Project Fear lost. Unfortunately the Project Fear supporters in Parliament and the media did not accept the Referendum. The EU Nationalists in Parliament have taken control.

    No Second Referendum should occur but if it does the Scots and N.Irish must vote on independence first. It would be absurd to be dumped in the EU by any people who are leaving the UK.