Refusal to mention Brexit ‘will make it a dishonest election’
A former Tory deputy prime minister has warned that July’s general election campaign “will be the most dishonest in modern times” because of the refusal of the main parties to debate the consequences of Brexit.
Michael Heseltine, who fell out with the Conservatives over leaving the European Union, has warned that the big issues in the upcoming general election – the economy, immigration and defence – all need to be debated in the context of the UK’s relationship with the EU.
But he claimed that Labour and the Tories were too scared to discuss Brexit because of the potential impact on their voter bases. He said: “Both major parties are afraid of losing votes to the hard right. Labour needs to rebuild its Red Wall while the Conservatives run scared of Reform.”
However, he noted that almost no major issue can be discussed without reference to an issue that has dominated British politics since the EU referendum in 2016 and arguably since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which shattered John Major’s government.
“The state of our economy, defence and environment, the need to level up our society, control immigration and restore Britain’s standing in the world – none of these issues can be honestly addressed in isolation from our relationship with Europe,” said Mr Heseltine, who now sits in the House of Lords. “Yet Europe is the no-go area.”
Highlighting immigration, he questioned how there can be a serious debate without discussing Europe. “Why cannot the two major parties debate immigration in the round? The boats contain just 5pc of those who might or might not be sent to Rwanda. They are a small part of the near 700,000 net immigration figure – the real elephant in the room.
“Until we consider the consequences for our farms, care homes, hospitals and universities of culling the numbers, all the talk of change, the constant assertion of ‘plans’ amount to little more than platitudes blowing in the wind. Whatever we decide to do, we need to work more closely with our neighbours in Europe.”
He questioned what Brexit had achieved: “Why is it so few new trade deals have been done? Why is it that those that have, frighten our farmers and are so harmful that they can only be implemented after the election? Why has there not been the promised bonfire of regulations? The answer is simple. There were no plans. It was a pack of lies.” (© The Independent)