There us something peculiar in a post by former Lib Dem AM Peter Black's latest Blog post
He writes
The Guardian article describers this as an
It is right therefore that Tim Farron should step up the pressure on the Labour Leader who, as he says in the Guardian article, has lamely given up while Britain “drives off a cliff” towards Brexit. He adds that in his view future generations will not forgive Labour for failing to stand up to Theresa May’s plans:
In an overt attempt to steal votes from Labour in pro-remain constituencies, Farron said he believed Corbyn had put his party on the wrong side of the biggest political issue in a generation and was struggling because his MPs were increasingly split on how to respond.
Peter however denies this is
... not opportunism as some have claimed, it is the reassertion of a core raison d'etre of the party. The Liberals and the Liberal Democrats have always been a passionately pro-European party. The SDP had as one of its core principles a commitment to Europe. The fact that Labour and the Tories have effectively ceded that position to us is helping us to get that message across.
Do what is Peter problem
But there are dangers in this approach, not least in the apparent lack of unity within the Parliamentary Party. Just because there are only 9 MPs, does not mean that we can act in an undisciplined way.
On such a key issue as this, splits in the way MPs vote will come back and bite us and undermine much of the good will that has been built up over the European issue. It is not good enough having Tim Farron lead from the front, all nine MPs need to be squarely behind him.
When it comes to the vote on Section 50, the nine MPs need to vote as a single block and have a reasoned justification for the way that they vote. Failure to do so will undermine all the good things that have been achieved in the last six months and set back the pro-European cause for some time.
Could it be that some of the Lib Dem MPs accept that LEAVE won the referendum campaign and they should accept the electorate mandate.
I myself have this dilemma . I accept that the REMAIN side lost and we thefore are mandated to leave the EU.
I know the argument that the vote to LEAVE was not he view of the entire population but that of those who voted but what other measure can we take short of counting abstainers as not supporting the measure.
But I do not agree that the Mandate includes the right of the Tories to exclude the UK Parliament and decide on how Brexit is carried out including free movement and the single market.
Maybe Peter Black is worried that some of his party MPs are not prepared to oppose Brexit in its entirety and accept the referendum result .
Brexit and the Lib Dems shameless pursuit of LEAVE voters have helped them to gain some of the electoral success they enjoyed before going in to coalition with the Tories
But do all their MPs believe that the "Will of the people" however stupid should be ignored.
2 comments:
Yes we lost glyn but i'm still not sure this means we should accept a brexit that involves leaving the single market, the customs union and the european court of justice. And following May's dreadfull kipperesque rant this week it's now clear that if youre an MP and you vote to invoke article 50 you are voting for a hard brexit. I dont see how anyone can say with any certainty that all 17 million people in the uk who voted leave were voting for all of those things (and tim farron is i think right to criticise Jezza for apparently rolling over on this).
Let's face it millions of people voted to leave because they actually believed it would mean an 'extra 350 million a week for the nhs' - i dont recall seeing anything on the leave campaign 'battlebus' about leaving the single market or the customs union or the ECJ.
And given the importance of the single market to the welsh economy i think any MP in wales would then be justified in voting against May's brexit plan. The hard brexit she is proposing could result in the EU imposing damaging tariffs on welsh exports to EU countries, with serious consequences for the welsh economy and welsh business and industries.
While leaving the EU was the will of the people - well the people of england and wales - a hard brexit wasnt.
I too do not accept that the narrow leave vote in the advisory, not binding, referendum amid lies, false promises and deception means that we must all be leavers now.
Who has the guts to stand up and say that this is a wrong, crazy decision?
As it stands, I suspect only one Scottish MP will vote to trigger Brexit (the solo Tory) and even he will be voting against the preference of his constituents, as EVERY region of Scotland voted remain.
Ian Murray, the sole Labour MP, risks finding himself hanging from one of very pro EU South Edinburgh's ornate lamp posts is he votes to trigger A50.
I'm not sure what A lie ster Carmichael will do, as he'll probably lie if asked. Our one Lib Dem is not to be trusted.
Why shouldn't MP's in the rest of the country vote with what their constituents want? I'll say it again, this was an advisory referendum, the result was manipulated, and is the worst thing for all the UK. Sure, there would be a backlash - I've seen the hatred being spouted in Parts of England but also their would be some relief from those who know in their hearts they were misled and made a mistake.
Even as I say this, I know it won't happen. The politicians don't have the guts to face down the worst press in the world.
Post a Comment