Lib Dems wrong to try and stop Brexit
DEAR Editor, Once upon a time politics watchers found the hypocrisy of the Liberal Democrats mind-boggling; nowadays, of course, we take it in our stride, as we do their assumed right to an exclusive tenure of the moral high ground.
For them there is no inconsistency in the incorporation of the word ‘Democrat’ in their official designation and their campaign to renege on the verdict of the biggest democratic exercise this country has ever held.
While deploring Boris Johnson’s assumption of the Premiership on the strength of 92,000 Tory votes, they neglect to point out that this was 92,000 votes more than all the EU Commissioners put together achieved.
Their perception that so many positions of power in the world are occupied by “elderly white men in suits” has traditionally prompted outpourings of synthetic rage.
That such a description has closely defined the EU Commissioners for many years seems to have totally escaped the attention of the
Lib Dems, who invest all the Commissioners’ pronouncements with the authority of Holy Writ.
While deriding Brexit supporters as narrowminded nationalists, they have been working for a “Stop Brexit” alliance with the SNP, Plaid Cwmru and Caroline Lucas, all of whom favour the Balkanization of Britain. Puzzlingly, though they affect to despise nationalism, they warmly embrace supranationalism, enthusiastically waving EU banners and joyously chanting the EU anthem.
Their long-cherished espousal of egalitarian principles also seems conditional. While spotting racists and sexists around every corner, they seem to have turned a blind eye to ageism.
They have constructed a narrative around Brexit which propounds that older generations (who experienced air-raids, rationing, hyperausterity, multi-shortages, school classes of 50-plus pupils, smog and National Service), having had it so good, are now selfishly prepared to rob youngsters of their European birthright, and leave them to live in a land that will be obliged to enact its own laws, rights and treaties.
The Liberal Democrats’ pitch for the votes of the younger generation is understandable. Short memories present their most fertile field for votes.
Older folks who have been around the block once or twice will remember their promises to abolish students’ fees, which they were instrumental in increasing once in office, and question their reasons for advocating a “People’s Vote” on Brexit, given their historical tooth-and-claw opposition to any such votes on the Treaties of Rome, Maastricht and Lisbon.
Barrie Francis, Selly Oak, Birmingham