Getting Brexit done is more than a slogan

This is a Brexit election. Labour wants it to be anything but, because its policy is a mess. The Greens want it to be about climate change. The SNP wants it to be about Scottish independence. But it is about getting Brexit done. It has been precipitated by the failure of Parliament to enact the result of the 2016 referendum. As Boris Johnson said in Downing Street when he fired the starting gun for the December 12 poll, only a Conservative majority will bring about a resolution of this matter.

The country is weary of the shenanigans that have held up the UK’S departure from the EU. Even many people who voted Remain want Brexit concluded. But a victory for Labour will lead to another round of pointless negotiations followed by a further referendum and the agony will go on for another year at least. A vote for the Liberal Democrats, while not putting them into power, could none the less put Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street with the same outcome.

Getting Brexit done is more than a slogan; it is a necessity if the country is to move on. Even ensuring a majority in Parliament for Mr Johnson’s deal does not settle the issue, as there will then need to be talks about the future trading relationship between an independent UK and the EU. But the logjam will be broken. This single goal needs to be the voters’ guide as election day approaches – not the inevitable noises off, gaffes, mistakes and false promises made between now and then.

The Conservative campaign has hardly got off to the most propitious start with the resignation of Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and apologies issued by Jacob Rees-mogg and others for various comments, indiscretions or errors of judgment. But these should not distract from the central task.

Of course, this contest is about more than just Brexit because the country is electing a government for the next five years. There is a choice – one between the optimism and opportunity personified by Mr Johnson and the glum, needs-based, anti-aspirational politics of Mr Corbyn for whom talking the country down is a socialist article of faith.

Mr Johnson said he did not want an election but it was “the least bad option” given the paralysis in Parliament. The choice for voters is delivering a Tory majority that will enact Brexit or another referendum. Does the country really want to go through that all over again?