Our fate is in the hands of a bunch of mediocrities
THE BREXIT crisis is a unique moment in our history. Past rebellions have usually been conducted by the people against the ruling elite. But today we are witnessing a revolt by the elite against the people.
Inebriated with their own self-importance and with procedural power, many MPs have decided they have the right to thwart Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union despite the clear outcome of the 2016 referendum. Their stance is an undemocratic outrage, yet it is all too typical of a political class whose central hallmarks are epic incompetence and repeated disdain for the British public.
Last week’s overwhelming rejection of the Prime Minister’s flawed Withdrawal Agreement should have been the moment Westminster came together to find a way to deliver the 2016 referendum decision. Instead, the anti-Brexit plotting and posturing have only intensified. This pantomime will plumb new depths today with votes on a series of amendments designed to emasculate, delay or even abandon a return of our national independence.
One, pushed by the maverick Tory Nick Boles, aims to put MPs rather than the Government in charge of the Brexit process, a grim prospect given 63 per cent of the Commons is composed of Remainers. An advocate of the “Norway model”, Boles hopes to keep Britain closely tied to the EU and locked into the customs union, undermining the commercial freedom of a clean break.
Another amendment comes from hardline Tory Remainer Dominic Grieve, who wants Article 50 rescinded to pave the way for a second referendum and continued British membership of the EU. are unfit for the job. Our fate is in the hands of a Parliament of mediocrities, with neither the capacity for effective governance nor the courage to lead. Rarely has Britain been more badly ruled than it is today, which is why Leave supporters voted for change.
Brexit is just one of the many serious problems that engulf our country, to which the politicians have no answer beyond empty rhetoric and misguided policies.
Violent crime mounts inexorably, up by 19 per cent in the past year alone, a direct consequence of soft prison regimes and the withdrawal of the police from the streets. Instead of tackling the crisis, enfeebled ministers plan more so-called community sentences and wider definitions of hate crime.
With the same lack of judgment, the Government pours £56billion into the HS2 rail project, while the creaking network is gripped by disruptions.
The rest of Britain’s civic infrastructure – especially the NHS, housing, and welfare system – is under intolerable strain because of mass immigration running at over 600,000 new arrivals every year, yet our politicians have imposed this social revolution without any democratic mandate. The same placeholders trumpet their devotion to the £14billion overseas aid budget, but at home they cannot provide adequate care for the elderly.
They allow our high streets to die through punitive business rates, yet are pathetically lenient over the taxing of ravenous tech giants.
Nor do they have a coherent national energy policy beyond the worship of green ideology, as shown by the recent collapse of the £16billion scheme, led by the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, to build a new nuclear plant in north Wales.
Our politicians have never been less impressive nor better rewarded. An MP’s basic salary is £77,739 and on top they receive travel expenses, a generous pension, a rental allowance of up to £23,000, at least £24,000 for office costs and a minimum £154,600 to employ their staff. All this largesse feeds their bustling vanity, though not their authority. As MPs’ pay and perks rise, the public’s respect evaporates.
N‘Rarely has Britain been more badly led’
OTHING will diminish the standing of politicians more than a refusal to implement Brexit, yet such a move would be in keeping with their twisted interpretation of our national interests. This is a class which supported pointless military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, but cannot stop a drone from paralysing Gatwick airport.
We have a Government that, for £7billion, builds two aircraft carriers but cannot provide more than a handful of boats to patrol our own coastline.
Unable to govern properly, our politicians are prone to fashionable fads, hence the absurd obsession with transgender rights. Eager to justify their existence, they demand more state action, public expenditure and taxation, as shown in their call for calorie limits in convenience foods to deal with the “obesity crisis”.
Having made their way up their party hierarchies, local government, or quangoland, few have much experience of the commercial world. That partly explains why they are efficient at squandering wealth but not so good at creating it.
Now, faced with a historic responsibility over Brexit, they are failing miserably in their democratic duty. The British people deserve better than this confederacy of second-raters.