Plotting for another Brexit poll hurts us all

Why do so many Remainers now believe in a second referendum? It would be foolish to assume they would win on a second go – as David Blunkett warns them in a brilliantly authentic article on this page. The case for yet another vote is fraudulent. The first was conducted on the understanding that the state would implement the result. If there is a “do-over”, its explicit purpose would be to reverse the will of the people, and the people are unlikely to go along with it.

The true nature of the EU has also become more apparent in the past two years. The old Remainer line that Brussels hardly affects our lives has been disproved by the mountain of regulation we have to extract ourselves from, and the EU’s negotiators have shown themselves up as authoritarian bullies. After the referendum, Brussels could have said: “We disagree with the result, but we will depart as friends.” Britain was willing to make concessions and a swift trade deal would be in both our interests. Instead, the EU has decided to punish us to send the message to other member states that leaving hurts. It is vindictive. Many who voted Remain before will have been disabused: this is not an economic club, it’s a cartel.

Then again, so is British politics. Voters can also see that the elite never accepted the result, and in its desperate bid to keep us in the EU, has talked Britain down. By stealth, error, lack of ambition and prevarication, the Establishment has made it tougher to get a good deal with Brussels. The tragedy for all of us is that in protracting this battle, Remain has made it harder to get on with Brexit and thus harder to get on with other vital domestic business.

Lord Blunkett points out that, when an MP, he represented many voters who belong to the working-class strand of Euroscepticism, and that calling some of these traditional Labour supporters “racist” is insulting. The deep social and economic problems that nudged them towards Brexit are still there. If Labour Remainers don’t move on from the referendum, they’ll abandon and alienate many of their own constituents. Lord Blunkett is right: this is the “moment to come together”.