Brexit is done – now it’s time for national renewal to begin

Brexit day is here, a full three and a half years after the fateful referendum which shook Britain’s political order. Yet while our elected MPs fought furiously across the benches of the House of Commons, Westminster was also reclaiming the purpose of democratic government. And, after being caught within division and stasis, Britain’s politics is finally finding a constructive way out of the “populist” discontent which continues to plague the European continent.

There is cause for relief today, and many will be celebrating long into the small hours of Saturday morning. (Although, I hasten to add, not all Brexiteers will be joining Nigel Farage for a “goodbye Brussels” booze up). Many others, who feel fondly towards the EU, will find the occasion to be one of sadness and grief. Just as today represents for many the beginning of a new chapter, the first stride on a path to national independence, for some it is the end of a journey and the death of a precious partnership.

Yet, even for those saddened by the end of Britain’s participation in the European project, there are reasons to look upon the horizon with hope, and not only despair. We can now renew our public sphere, which for so long has been soured by an unhealthy national obsession with Brexit.

The passing of the Brexit rage is now allowing all but the most dogged of Remainers to see that the focus upon stopping Brexit has led to important questions being neglected; just as many Brexiteers are striking a more sober tone on the challenges lying ahead. The Liberal Democrat grandee, Vince Cable, in a column for The Independent, captured the spirit of the moment. For while he regretted that today would be a moment of personal sadness, he also said that it provides a unique opportunity to reform Britain’s financial industry.

This, after all, is precisely the point of Brexit. At the heart of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU there is an empowering possibility. It presents the ability to reclaim and renew the promise of democratic governance – that those laws which affect our lives are crafted by our own elected lawmakers. And in this very same promise, there is a chance for all of us – those who voted for Brexit, and those who opposed it – to now work to shape Britain’s politics.

Those in political mourning must remember that there are tides in human affairs. Parties which seem invincible today can, and frequently do, fall from grace. The political forces which shape the craft of state are liable to shift and change. And while the ink is dry upon Britain’s withdrawal, the future remains unwritten, and beckons to us to create it.

There has rightly been much discussion of our need to revive neglected areas of the country; but we also need to renew our public debate. Both sides of our erstwhile divides – Leave and Remain – should be able to come together and find silver linings, even opportunities, where once they saw only the spectre of catastrophe.

As a country, we need to begin seeing one another’s politics more charitably, and treat our political adversaries accordingly. It is high time that the nuance is brought back into our opinions, after it was so easily butchered in the febrile atmosphere of Britain’s mad Brexit autumn. The closing of ranks into Remainers and Brexiteers served to shut off the wide spectrums residing within these two sides – it blinded many to the possibility that their erstwhile opponents were acting with the best of intentions.

Refinding the civility of debate does not mean forging a superficial, and insincere, common ground upon the substance. There is also a virtue in having an adversarial political chamber in which fierce, yet civil, disagreement can be voiced. Indeed, one important lesson of the previous decade is that consensus can create complacency, just as derision may breed the bitter fruits of uncivil enmity. Both in the end are damaging to national harmony.

It’s time to turn the page on our recent past. With the clouds that have haunted our land dispelled, the very forces that fuelled the rage and rancour of recent years can be freed to drive the energies of national revival and renewal. The bitter strife and torturous stasis are past, and an opportunity for reconciliation takes their place. Burying old animosities and forging new bonds of friendship must be the start of this process.

It will take time, but wounds can close, hearts and minds can now mend. And as our Brexit winter turns into spring, we can once again gather our strength and will to continue building a better Britain.