This is part of what my gift from the future, The New Oxford History of England. Brexit 2015-50 had to say about the 2024 General Election:
'It has gone down in history as the 'Deluded Election'. Both the Conservatives and Labour ruled out increases in any of the major revenue-raising taxes - income tax, national insurance and VAT. With public services severely strapped for cash, this begged the question 'how are these services going to be saved from collapse'?
Both parties based their 'plans' to avoid this breakdown on growth in the economy. Neither had any satisfactory explanation of what would be Plan B if this growth was not achieved.
Bizarrely, the one policy guaranteed to deliver economic growth, reversing Brexit, was not only rejected by Labour and Conservative, but all mention of the damage leaving the EU had caused Britain was avoided.
So fanatical was this Brexit omerta that Labour and Conservative candidates were not even allowed to discuss rejoining the Single Market, despite the fact that leading Brexit campaigners, including Boris Johnson himself, had promised that the UK would remain in the Single Market after leaving the EU.
And all this against clear evidence that by 2024 most people realised Brexit was a bad mistake, while only a tiny minority believed it had been a good idea.'
I respectfully disagree. Brexit's economic impact so far has not been positive. But the issue was partly about sovereignty not just economics. And I am not sure we have any evidence about how many would vote differently in a second referendum. The decision was taken 8 years ago. Shouldn't we just get on with it?
ReplyDeleteSo far my informant from the future has told me that cutting ourselves off from our major market, predictably, did enormous damage, and that the British people began overwhelmingly to see it had been a terrible mistake. She has not yet told me whether Brexit was ever reversed or mitigated. But I live in hope
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