Holding a second Brexit referendum would be madness
Have you been attending dinner parties on the outskirts of French villages this summer and venting about the stupidity of uneducated Brexit voters? Can you even say the word Brexit without spitting the word lies immediately afterwards? Have you been thinking about going on a march? Are you struggling to accept that you lost? If so you have probably contracted a serious dose of Brexit Anxiety Disorder (BAD). That’s the condition described today in a piece published on Politico, written by the savvy Tom McTague. Politico is usually pretty slavishly anti-Brexit in its coverage out of Brussels and Britain, so it’s nice to see something sneak through that annoys fanatical Remainers. Someone senior at Politico must be on holiday.
Of course, BAD is a Remainer condition related to BDS – that is Brexit Derangement Syndrome, which has struck down people at the extremes on both sides of the argument. BAD seems to be spreading like wildfire among Britain’s media middle classes, among sports presenters, and among entitled centrist rich folk struggling with the idea that the voters they make their money from have decided not to take their patronising advice on this one.
That sanctimonious bloke, not the Innocent Smoothies one, the other one, Dunkerton who founded Superdry – the clothing brand for dads who want to pretend they are still 25 – has got it so bad that he has given a whole million pounds to the campaign for a second referendum, on the condition that it must be spent on polling. Yes, on polling!
If polling made a real difference, then Alex Salmond is today first minister of an independent Scotland rather than a trainee television presenter for the Kremlin, Ed Miliband is Prime Minister, Brexit didn’t happen, and Hillary Clinton occupies the oval office.
At Reaction my hungry young team of pro-market types are open to similarly large donations if anyone rich out there is feeling terrified of Jeremy Corbyn and has a spare million pounds to be spent on pro-market political commentary. But we’re capitalists at Reaction so your million pounds will not only fund even more expansion and give you a warm feeling, it will buy you something worth having, a Reaction subscription for life and a bloody brilliant lunch with two of our writers, Gerald Warner and Walter Ellis, who will settle Brexit the old-fashioned way with a duel on Pall Mall.
Speaking of my esteemed colleague Walter, although he does NOT have Brexit Anxiety Disorder he is displaying some symptoms. He has decided, writing for us last week, that he was wrong to accept that Brexit is going to happen. He now wants a second referendum, in the process joining the deeply strange “People’s Vote” crew who seem to think that by waving the EU flag (the EU flag! always popular in the UK!) they will magically change minds.
I’m not one of those who shout “look!” when someone changes their mind or adapts a position. It is a sign that the brain is working; it shows they think and engage. Jacob Rees-Mogg used to be in favour of two referendums, with the second on a deal. Walter used to accept the result of the 2016 referendum. What kind of twit thinks exactly what they thought about everything forty years ago? See me later, Corbyn.
Nonethless, I do think on this occasion that Walter is plain wrong. A second referendum on Brexit is a terrible idea, and about as much use as a chocolate fire guard if your aim is to bring the country back together. (Perhaps that isn’t your aim.) Here are five quick problems with the concept:
1) When is this vote going to be? The last referendum was the result of a long renegotiation process, manifesto commitment and then a legislative process that took ages. Yet, somehow we are to believe that between Christmas and March a second referendum can be agreed and legislated for.
2) What’s the question? Even if you can get the legislation through, what will the question posed be? If it’s yes or no to the deal, then is it a vote stay in on the old terms that will have ended by April 2019? Or is it a vote for a government to beg Brussels to forgive and forget? That’ll be popular… or perhaps, the vote can be multiple choice. That is no deal, old deal, or some other deal as yet not negotiated. What a mess it would be. Yes, even worse than the current mess.
3) Why only a second referendum? Can we make it best of three or best of five? Or every four years like the Olympics?
4) A second referendum is simply wrong. The British were always sceptical of EU integration, but had not been asked since 1975, when they were lied to in a way that makes the £350m for the NHS fib look positively pure. In 2016 they were offered a choice on leaving or remaining and decided by a clear margin. The snobbery and insult involved in setting aside the last referendum would create bad feeling and anger on an epic scale. You think people are angry now? Wait until you tell Brexit voters it didn’t count.
5) This is Britain. We simply cannot as a country make policy according to the word of Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan, both advocates of a second referendum.
Hope you are having a nice summer.
Iain Martin,
Editor, Reaction
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Iain Martin and the team make sense of the news, providing commentary and analysis on the stories that matter in politics, geopolitics, economics and culture.