Brexit: Still time for second thoughts?

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, best-selling author Sir Philip Pullman has reignited the debate over the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, saying the Conservative Government is more interested in appeasing “the foaming zealots of Brexit” than addressing the pandemic.

Sir Philip says there is a need for a second referendum on EU membership as there “are so many clear advantages to being in the EU and the benefits of leaving are so tenuous”.

His call comes after the Government led by Boris Johnson reiterated its determination to keep to a December 31 deadline for cementing a trade deal with Brussels or leave without one — an outcome that many observers believe would have long-term disastrous consequences for the nation’s economy.

While Mr Johnson has until July to seek an extension to the talks, which the EU would certainly accept, Johnson is doggedly sticking to his belief that a comprehensive deal can still be struck by his original deadline, despite the distractions of the pandemic.

“The Government will not ask to extend, and if the EU asks, we will say no,” a spokesperson for Johnson said.

The former Secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union, Philip Rycroft said this rigid attitude flew in the face of commonsense “when the huge uncertainties caused by the Coronavirus pandemic are factored in”.

He was echoed by Lord Kerslake, who led the Civil Service from 2011 to 2014.

“The lost time as a consequence of COVID-19 has [a trade deal by the end of the year] gone from being ambitious to almost impossible,” he said.

The sad fact is that there is no room for argument on the matter from within the Government. At the December election all candidates for the Conservative Party had to sign a pledge that they would support leaving the EU whatever the cost.

Dissenters — and there were plenty in the party leading up to the election — were forced out. The ‘broad church’ of views and opinions that Conservatism was once so proud of no longer exists.

This has led to the Government to being little more than a shadow of Nigel Farage’s single-issue Brexit Party — something that Sir Philip believes should be a window of opportunity for the Opposition Labour Party.  

“My hope that this time the Labour Party under a new leader will play a proper part in the argument; and that the lies, the cheating, the flagrant and shameless mendacity will be fully exposed by a strong, passionate, and focused campaign to Remain,” he said.

Whether new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will go as far as that is doubtful, but advocating for a second referendum on the EU exit would be popular with the 48 per cent of the population that voted Remain in the 2015 poll as well as others among Leavers who are having second thoughts.

The precedent is already there. After Britain joined the bloc in 1973 following a parliamentary vote, a referendum, launched by Labour two years later, confirmed the decision.

The current Government will fight that proposal tooth and nail because it knows it might well lose, but it will not be there forever and Sir Keir could benefit by incorporating such a vote into the party’s platform at an early date.