| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:March for Europe | |
| Posted by: | Huw Burford-Taylor | |
| Date/Time: | 11/09/17 13:38:00 |
| My remarks were not aimed at you, the vagaries of the Forum software seem to place posts virtually randomly sometimes. "no-one, including you, knows the long term prospects of the EU as a viable democratic entity." Without wishing to sound patronising however, the above statement is a truism masquerading as profundity. No one knows the long term viability of democracy in any nation state. Look at the bill being voted on today, the biggest movement of power from Westminster to Whitehall in memory. The Government didn't have this level of unscrutinised power during World War Two. No matter what your political stripe or which side of the referendum you voted this bill is more about making government absolute than it is parliament sovereign. Your final sentence though is exactly the point, people weren't told this was going to be a marathon, they were told leaving would be easy, there would be no downside, the Brexit deal would be the easiest ever (Liam Fox) and countries would be queuing up to deal with us (David Davis). In fact he was the one who said we'd be halfway though various bilateral free trade deals with European countries by now conveniently choosing to ignore the fact that you can only with the EU as a bloc, which is what gives it it's global clout in the first place. How are those trade deals looking now? So, if (and it is a huge if) we are very lucky we might, might be roughly back to where we are now in another decade and a half. Something an awful lot of "experts" (yes, yes, I know) were at pains to point out at the time. In the meantime virtually the entire bandwidth of the civil service will be taken up dealing with this arrant folly. |