Post
by Chadwick » Thu May 23 2019 8:20pm
I think this election will be viewed sort of as a 2nd ref. Because we're electing people to posts they will probably not take up, and it's not seen as a 'national' election, I think the public will generally feel free to vote as though it were a referendum.
Certainly, there is no point in voting for the Brexit Party if you wanted them to do anything. Their only policy is to not take their seats because we have left. Weirdly, I've seen people arguing that they will be able to frustrate EU functioning, but how they will do this when we have left and they are not MEPs is beyond me. The irony of electing people who are unelected has also not escaped me, nor the claim that our MEPs are suddenly very powerful people and we are not in fact ruled by Brussels.
A vote for the Brexit Party is therefore just a protest vote. And I fear it will fail there too. The government will see pro-Brexit votes as a message of 'get on with it'. Not that they should go for No Deal, or abandon May's Deal, but simply endorsement of finishing it quickly. The Brexit supporting public are likely to feel just as betrayed when their protest vote is turned into support for the Tories.
If you are a frustrated Brexiteer, feeling let down by the government and the two major parties, voting for any pro-brexit party will not advance your cause. Bizarrely, the only way to get your voice heard and to tell the government what kind of brexit you want, is to support a 2nd ref. And that means in this election, voting for the LibDems or the Greens (or Plaid in Wales, SNP in Scotland).
These parties are campaigning to stop what we are doing and put it o the public again. But this time to phrase the question more carefully. Instead of running round like headless chickens, arguing over what 'leave' means, a 2nd ref will allow us to make it clear.