Brexit Principle, or Brexit 'Pragmatism'?

No surrender, or suck it up and live with it?

Montage © Brexit Facts4EU.Org

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Sunday Editorial

Brexit Facts4EU.Org is in regular contact with around 20 significant Brexit organisations, with around 10 smaller organisations, and with many pro-Brexit politicians. Let’s just say that the relations between some players has become ‘tense’ in recent weeks.

What is causing the fuss?

It will not surprise regular readers that the cause of all the tension is the Prime Minister’s Brexit ‘deal’. Or to put it another way, a ‘Clean Break Brexit’ versus the ‘Boris Brexit’.

This has been thrown into sharp relief as a result of Parliament finally acceding to Boris Johnson’s insistence that a general election is needed. With this now agreed and with the election now under six weeks away, the issues surrounding the new Brexit agreement negotiated by the PM and his team have been thrown into sharp relief.

The choice now appears to be stark. Of the two main pro-Brexit parties, the Conservatives are naturally backing the PM’s ‘deal’ whilst the Brexit Party favours a clean break Brexit. Not one Conservative MP – not even members of the ERG – are doing anything other than toeing the party line. Not publicly, anyway.

Arron Banks and Leave.EU back the Boris deal

The head of Leave.EU, Arron Banks has written an article in today’s Sunday Express, which many readers will have seen. In it he says:

© Leave.EU

“We should be under no illusion that the deal Boris negotiated with the EU is 95 per cent of Mrs May’s ‘surrender treaty’ but with some improvements on the backstop which just about make it acceptable.

“I would prefer a clean-break Brexit and then look for a free trade deal once we have recovered our leverage with the EU.

“However, I fear if we don’t leave the EU soon it will never happen. We reluctantly backed the Boris deal on the basis that we would leave the EU and after an election he would win a large majority and ultimately be in a stronger position to go into the next phase of negotiations.”

Steve Baker MP and the ERG back the Boris deal

“I’m now at a loss to know what Nigel Farage wants to achieve. The reason every Conservative Eurosceptic MP backed the deal is that it can deliver a Brexit worth having.

“But Boris will only negotiate a great future for the UK if he has a good majority of resolute Conservative MPs. Nigel now risks that and our future.

“It is completely inconceivable that the Conservative Party would now go for no deal and a pact.”

Principle, or hopeful pragmatism? No surrender, or suck it up?

Readers who have been with us since the Referendum campaign know that we argued from day one that the EU would never agree a sensible termination agreement and that the UK should leave and then negotiate future trade terms.

Instead, Mrs May wasted nearly three years on arrant nonsense, leaving Boris Johnson with an existing text on which he could only achieve modest improvements. Had he had a clean sheet and more time, we are sure the result would have been radically different.

Still, we are where we are, as they say. And now voters are facing what appears to be a stark choice on 12 December.

Put simply, pro-Brexit voters must decide between principle, or apparent pragmatism. No surrender, or suck it up on the basis it’s better than a Remainer Labour government, possibly in coalition with the Remainer LibDems, and/or Remainer SNP, and/or Remainer Greens and/or Remainer Plaid Cymru.

Observations

There’s still a long way to go

Elections often throw up surprises during the campaign - and in their end result – and perhaps never more so than in this decade. It might therefore be too early to be taking decisions.

Then there is also the whole question of tactical voting, which we have raised in the last week. Brexit Facts4EU.Org is currently working on a revitalised version of our ‘Brexit Seal’, to be applied to candidates in the election.

Our present thinking revolves around two types of seal, both indicating a general pro-Brexit stance of a candidate. One type would indicate a candidate backing the PM’s ‘deal’ and the other would be given to those advocating a ‘Clean Break Brexit’.

Naturally we welcome readers’ thoughts on all of the above, as usual.

Finally, there is not much we can do if we don’t have any funding. We rely 100% on individual donations to keep going. We need your help now more than ever, as we have so much to do. Quick and secure donation links are below. Please don’t assume that others will do this. Thank you so much.

[ Sources: Sunday Express Arron Banks article | Brexit Party campaign launch ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 03 Nov 2019

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