Re: What a surprise
Yes, I agree, most people’s preference was for remaining in single market, mine included.
But let’s understand how we got here.
The mature and reasoned approach after the 2016 Brexit referendum, would have been to accept the result and fairly quickly have a second referendum asking
“*Accepting the Brexit result of the first referendum* what sort of Brexit do you prefer?”
But Gina Miller and Bercow together made that impossible, by insisting that:
1) Any second referendum could only have one Leave and one Remain option. They just wanted a re-run.
2) Parliament must “have a say”, which given the split in Parliament it was mathematically impossible for the outcome to be anything but an endless battle between the ERG crazies versus Bercow. The moderates *couldn’t win a vote in Parliament*, which was already completely known by Jan 2017 when Gina Miller won her court case.
Brexit Moderates absolutely would have won going to the country, with a soft Brexit / Norway option referendum in late 2016/early 2017. That’s well known too, you can check on any of the polling websites. But Gina Miller and Bercow stopped it, because they were so determined to hold the country to ransom with their preferred option of Remain.
There was one political alternative, a road not taken.
Instead of Theresa May calling “a general election on my leadership” in 2019, she could have lanced the boil in 2017 by going to the country and defining the ground as an effective referendum on type of Brexit standing unequivocally for Norway option. She wouldn’t have to win around the ERG, she’s the PM it’s her call alone. If she had won that, that’s the democratic mandate.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
