Brexit: The Elephant in the Room.
What an excellent title for Mike Galsworthy’s talk at Wirksworth last Wednesday. The room was full of people frustrated at the government’s reluctance to talk about Brexit, its failure to deliver what it promised, or to embrace the idea of a closer relationship with Europe. Yes, the government says it wishes to ‘reset’ its relationship with Europe, but what are they actually doing in concrete terms to make this happen?
Mike started his talk by considering the UK’s global position, contrasting our situation in 2016 and today, eight years later. In 2016 we were in a strong position globally, as members of the EU, enjoying a good relationship with the US, and acting as an entry point to the EU for Commonwealth countries. Our position now is very different: we’re out of the EU, have not made the promised trade deal with the US, and only negligible deals with New Zealand and Australia.
In the meantime, the world has become more hostile. We’ve seen the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the rise of Trump, and the increasing influence of China. Both China and Russia are BRICS countries but Russia is increasingly relying on China for support. The gap left by the US pulling its Aid programmes all around the world only leaves the door wide open for the further spread of Chinese influence. Given this, Europe seems to many like the best guarantor of the world order. Its democratic values, and pluralist, collaborative politics seems like the way forward, and are very much our values here in the UK. Being part of Europe is not just about economics, it’s also about humanity and investing in people. Mike emphasised it’s particularly about offering opportunities for young people who,as a result of Brexit, have been denied the same opportunities as their parents.
So why are our government so reluctant to talk about this? Mike pointed out that 90% of Labour MPs voted Remain and a majority of those in government support Europe. During questions and discussion it was clear the audience felt the government was terrified of the increasing popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform party—though Mike pointed out that even some Reform voters felt Brexit was a mistake. He thought the government’s unwillingness to participate in the European Youth Mobility Scheme came from the Home Office’s concern about the impact on our immigration figures – a nonsense really, as there’s no reason these young people coming here for a fixed term should figure in the immigration figures at all.
Mike’s message on how to respond to the government’s silence on Brexit was basically to ignore and bypass them. To ignore them, in the sense of not taking on their concerns, which are fuelled by the likes of Reform and Nigel Farage. He said the polls show the British people increasingly think Brexit was a mistake and want at least a closer relationship with Europe. So we should bypass the politicians and instead go to our local communities, to the grassroots level, making the case for a closer relationship with Europe, building up a groundswell of opinion until our elected representatives have to wake up and smell the coffee. And of course we particularly want young people to get involved – they’re the future after all. The European Movement is one of the parent bodies to YEM – Young European Movement – which is becoming more influential and which has its own programme of events aimed at those under 35.
There were one or two questions from the audience which were rather left floating, and have been going through my mind since. How to counter the power of social media messaging over those who don’t have access to other points of view? How to reach those communities who feel so overlooked and disenfranchised that they don’t vote? But overall, the message was upbeat and positive: we’re in a different place than we were in 2016 and the mood in the country has changed. We need to get out there, working collaboratively and creatively with others, making the case for a closer relationship with Europe and to eventually rejoin.
So the evening provided much food for thought and a great boost to those of us already involved in local groups like Hope for Europe. Many thanks to Mike Galsworthy for his talk and to Hope for Europe and Scarthin Books for hosting the event.
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