Election result can pave way for cross-party involvement in Brexit negotiations
If we have learned anything from the general election, we now know that there is little appetite in the country for the aggressive tough line that the Prime Minister has claimed she will take in the negotiation with the European Union.
Nor do voters like her exclusive approach, where she is unwilling to work with other politicians from around the country and from different parties, even from within the wider Conservative Party.
But the finely balanced result provides the opportunity to change the approach to the negotiations to a much more inclusive, consensual approach across all parties, as Ruth Davidson seems to be suggesting. It could be based on reaching out to the European Union negotiators, who have always said that they want an outcome which is satisfactory to all parties. Now we have the chance to have that kind of negotiations.
Practically speaking, this means that the Prime Minister should involve representatives of the other political parties in the negotiations. This would allow their concerns to be expressed, but importantly it would also allow all to hear the views of the European Union negotiators and explore options with them.
While this would not be easy to manage, it is likely to lead to a much greater degree of consensus across the UK parties.
I assume that the Prime Minister has the right to nominate whom she wishes to be part of the negotiating team and the EU would not object if it was a cross-party team rather than a small group from within one party. She and her government would still have the final decision about the final agreement, as in the end the negotiations are between the EU and the UK government.
But when it reached that stage it is much more likely that the government would have cross-party support, as they had in the vote to trigger the negotiations under Article 50 – not forgetting that they had to be forced into doing the vote by the courts.
And on the principle that two heads are better than one, we would have a much better agreement for them to coalesce around.
Sadly, the Prime Minister seems unwilling to take this more conciliatory, collegiate approach to other parties, even though she has been given a salutary lesson. But the message is clear that the current approach has been rejected by the electorate and we must press for this alternative.
CLEM MCCARTNEY Seacoast Road, Limavady