Ukip won’t let the Remoaners win by the back door
THERE is no doubt that for much of the time since the historic referendum victory of June 2016, the political fortunes of Ukip have been in decline. Given that the party was set up for the express purpose of attaining Brexit, becoming victims of our own success was a price many Ukip members were willing to pay.
During the general election earlier this year, it appeared as if the two main parties – and in particular Theresa May’s Tories – had entirely adopted Ukip’s agenda on the EU. Not only that but as a party of government the Conservatives were in fact much better placed to deliver it than we were.
Labour also produced a proBrexit election manifesto that made clear it was committed not only to formally leaving the EU but also to ending freedom of movement and therefore to leaving the single market.
So we were squeezed extremely hard in a contest in which both our then leader Paul Nuttall and his predecessor Nigel Farage recommended Ukip supporters put “country before party” by voting for proBrexit candidates from other parties where we were standing aside.
But just a few months on it has already become clear that neither Labour nor the Conservatives feel constrained to support the full, clean Brexit that people voted for in the referendum. Both parties are beginning to water down their commitments – Labour is all over the shop and appears to be open to trapping us in the single market under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice for good.
MRS May, with her authority weakened and Remain supporters such as Chancellor Philip Hammond outnumbering Leavers like Boris Johnson in her Cabinet, has also started to backslide. She has unveiled a planned “implementation period” for Brexit after we technically leave in March 2019. This is really a non-implementation period as during it we will effectively still be obeying single market rules and forced to follow ECJ rulings.
More worryingly still, we do not know when this transition will conclude. Mrs May says it will be “about” two years but has given us no end date. And