MPs know full well there is no stopping Brexit lest they face the wrath of the electorate and there is no way they kind bind Mrs May in a negotiation. All they can do is compel her to seek a particular type of settlement which she is most likely considering anyway. Hard Brexit is not on the table. What is the actual point of this?
Arch-Remainer Ian Dunt is not so impressed with the leaver reaction though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Dunt
Britain’s new political class of angry, borderline hysterical campaigners are already on the warpath. “I now fear every attempt will be made to block or delay triggering Article 50,” Nigel Farage tweeted. “They have no idea the level of public anger they will provoke.” Whenever Farage raises the spectre of public anger and violence, as he did during the referendum on immigration, he makes it out to be a warning. It is in fact a threat. He is trying to incite that mob mentality. He wants riots in the streets.
In this I think Mr Dunt is correct. It's not a warning. It's a call to arms. And though I detest Farage for a number of reasons, on this, I really don't have a problem. I have made similar warnings myself with an implied subtext. I am completely at ease with it. This is basic civics.
Democracy is a substitute for violence. We only have a civil society because of a social contract. It is only because decision making is legitimate that the government has any moral authority to exert force over us. Remove that legitimacy and government authority no longer applies. The government can no longer legitimately apply force.
Spent force though he is, Farage does have a certain sway with a sizable portion of the electorate for whom he is a spokesman. From this position he is issuing a veiled threat, ratcheting up the rhetoric in the knowledge that someone somewhere, willing to do as he alludes, is hearing him loud and clear.
It's not exactly subtle but it is a clear warning to MPs not to even think about derailing Brexit. We had riots over the poll tax so if MPs think they can cynically use process to defeat what we Eurosceptics have worked all our lives for and invested in, then they open up a Pandora's box.
The bottom line is that we had a referendum, a free and fair referendum where the advantage was stacked strongly in favour of the status quo. That was the mountain for the leavers to climb and we climbed it. We won. It was a slim win but a win nonetheless.
It shows that there are MPs who see themselves as rulers not servants. Such extreme hubris warrants a more robust threat than the threat to kick them out at the next general election. Whether Dunt likes it or not, Brexit is deadly serious.
This is about self determination. It is an intergenerational struggle spanning decades. We eurosceptics live this cause, we will fight for it for as long as it takes. We are fanatics. We will do, in the long run, whatever it takes to ensure that Britain is not ruled by a remote antidemocratic technocracy.
