In all sorts of
ways, Brexit is an epoch-defining moment, whether it ends up happening or not. Tied up in the debate is a whole series of
issues about what it means to be Welsh, British or European, whether the future
lies in international co-operation or competition, and whether the UK has adapted,
or ever can adapt, to its diminished status in the world. I am in no doubt that it is, in its very essence,
an Anglo-British not-nationalist-at-all attempt to turn back the clock to an
age when, from their perspective at least (even if not in reality), people knew
their place, the world kow-towed before the might of Britannia, and this
glorious little island stood united against its enemies (especially, of course,
the dastardly Germans). It is precisely because the project is of
that nature that I oppose it; people who voted for this strange vision of a ‘great’
British past really should not be surprised that it is accompanied by blatant
attempts to rebrand
everything with the Union flag. I’ve
argued before that the choice facing us in Wales is not between the status quo
and complete independence; it is between a gradual transition to independent
member status in the EU and being stuck on a small off-shore island dominated
by the Anglo-British not-nationalists-at-all.
Even if the big
underlying questions referred to above aren’t really being discussed, they underpin
the debate, and coupled with the utter incompetence of both the Prime Minister
and the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, the strain on those members
of the two main political parties who possess a few brain cells between them
has been intense, to the point where some have chosen to break away and form a
new grouping. Given the importance of
this one issue, which will determine our future for a generation or more, if
this was all just about Brexit, I’d be egging them on and hoping that more
would follow them. There are times when
single-issue politics has a role to play, and this is such a time; if
splintering the existing monolithic parties is an essential precondition to changing
course, then so be it. And I would, of
course, give a more general welcome to anything which smashed the two-party
politics which has dominated the UK for far too long, in which context a move
to proportional representation is also essential.
But… For all their fine words, I can’t help
wondering how much of what drives them is a real desire for a change of
direction and a change in the UK’s politics and how much is down to personal
ambition or discontent with particular leaders at a particular point in
time. “Centrism” is paraded as though it
is something inherently virtuous, neither one thing nor the other, whilst the
Brexiteers on the one hand and Momentum on the other are presented as though
they were dangerous extremists, despite the fact that (with the sole exception
of Brexit) there is little in the policies of either which would be out of
place in mainstream parties across Europe.
“Extremist” is just an insult; a label to avoid engaging with the
substance of what others say. And, at
one level, it suits them all to play a game of pretending to be more different
than they are in reality.
On any objective
analysis, the UK has been dominated for the last 70 years by two broadly social
democratic parties, the difference between which has mostly been of emphasis
rather than of real substance. Both
support a capitalist economy, both support the existence of the NHS and the
Welfare state (disagreements being limited to issues such as the scale and the
role of the marketplace), both support the development and possession of
weapons of mass destruction - the list is endless. Minor disagreements are blown up into great
issues of principle largely in order to differentiate between two very similar
positions and world views. We need
change, we need to shake up the system, but do we really need yet another
flavour of social democracy? I think not. If the unimaginatively-named Independent
Group can be a movement for bringing some reality back into the Brexit debate
instead of the Corbyn-May demand for the impossible, then all well and
good. If they can be a catalyst for
electoral reform which opens out more future possibilities, then all power to
their elbow. But once those two issues
are resolved there is no role or purpose for another party of ambitious politicians
repeating the same old messages.
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