Heated, uncertain and contentious, the UK’s Brexit negotiations have sat at the heart of British (and EU) politics since 2016’s referendum.
With amorphous terms from Soft to Hard, and both Leave and Remain campaigns seemingly locked at each other’s throats, clarity of what Brexit actually means can often be hard to decipher.
For public onlookers, the variety of twists, turns, jargon, farce and – sometimes lack of any real substance – often looks more like TV drama than real life. So much so that one wonders if Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors provided inspiration…
But there has been one near-consistent message that can be salvaged from the chaos: Brexit is going to happen, in whatever form that may be.
We say ‘near-consistent’, because there is a movement, that suggests something different. That’s the Stop Brexit or second referendum movement, led by groups such as Avaaz.
As of last weekend’s Liberal Democrat party conference, of course, there’s been more talk of the possibility of stopping Brexit, alongside concerns over a No Deal and the need for a second referendum. Vince Cable, currently leading the only ‘major’ party with an anti-Brexit stance, is now getting airtime over his view that Brexit “can and must be stopped”.
But with only 12 seats in Westminster and some serious stagnation in the polls since the last election, this may be a bit ambitious. The party is keen to pick up some of the centre ground of politics left vacant by the more extreme right and left wing positions of the current Tory and Labour parties, respectively. Somewhat ironically, the LibDems find themselves as the key political group taking up the advice of the Labour Party’s ex-leader and Prime Minister (1997-2007), Tony Blair, from his Institute for Global Change.
In true ANH fashion, we’ve taken it upon ourselves this week to look beyond the media cacophony and decipher the different outfits Brexit might wear. From the Churchillian, Sovereignty-fuelled Hard Brexit, to the compromising Soft - and the fear of an uncertain No Deal whatsoever - we identify the vocal players, impacts and potential results that each route may hold – including for the natural health sector.
Go figure…
Comments
your voice counts
Karyse
21 September 2018 at 5:02 pm
Thank you for setting out the alternatives so clearly. What a pity we have not had this clarity in all local media in place of the constant political spin we are fed on a daily basis.
17M people voted for Brexit. This was 37% of the 46M registered voters in the UK.
16M voted to Remain - 35% of registered UK voters.
28% of people did not vote in the referendum, for whatever reason, but that does not mean they should not be entitled to a final say after the "deal" is known. Democracy is not a one-off event and "The will of the people" is a meaningless cliche unless it implies the will of an overriding majority of the people which clearly does not apply in the current situation.
Anthony
25 September 2018 at 7:35 am
Since when did the ANH become a politically partisan organization?
Not a very clever move for sustainability in my opinion.
Stick to exposing and debating the issues as they arise.
Miranda Black
25 September 2018 at 3:59 pm
Hi Anthony
We think there's some confusion here. We've always maintained a non-partisan position - and we've made this clear in the copy that accompanies the tables. We are a campaign, research and education NGO with a passion for protecting fundamental rights in the area of natural health. Given our physical base in the UK and the implications of one EU Member State making a decision to exit the EU, we think providing an analysis of the current status of the debate is of interest to our readership and support base. What happens with Brexit may have impacts (positive or negative) on people's ability to choose natural health as well as practice the large range of natural health modalities. It is therefore in our view entirely fitting to do and publish this analysis of the current situation (which is of course a moving feast). You will note that we have not made any suggestion or recommendation for people to side with one political party or another, this being consistent with our non-partisan position and our wider mission.
With kind regards
The ANH Team
Your voice counts
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