Who should say sorry to whom over Brexit?
To The Guardian
At last, a prominent Remainer, Jonathan Freedland, has woken up to the reality of the continued support for Brexit. What do Remainers need to do now to change the Brexit mood? Do it well and the Government would listen.
I voted Leave for very good reasons, but now think we cannot get a good Brexit deal. But blaming me is counterproductive; intemperate articles from the liberal political establishment only serve to increase my bloody-mindedness. What we need to read and hear from heavyweight Remainers, from ex-pms down, is an entirely different tone; not even more arguments and insults, but a serious amount of contrition for their contribution to bringing so many of the UK’S poor into the Brexit camp. Something like this would get near it:
“We, the powerful in politics over the past 25 years, took you into an everdeeper relationship with the EU from which there is no escape. We did this without consulting you or even thinking that you were worth consulting. That was wrong of us. Moreover, we presided over an era when good jobs disappeared, and inequality of incomes and assets grew unimaginably. We favoured immigration, but ignored your concerns because we knew best. So we understand your anger and wanting to take back control. You are not mostly right-wing ideologues; you have a right to be angry with us. Individually and collectively, we are very sorry.” Brian Forsdick, Walton-on-thames, Surrey
To The Guardian
As an angry Remainer I have no intention of apologising to Brian Forsdick, or any other angry Leaver. Good jobs and more equal incomes did not disappear on account of Europe. The rot was hatched in Chicago, not Brussels. Germany is in the EU and the euro. It knocks spots off us in things like balance of payments, productivity, equality and social security. Mr Forsdick and his Leaver friends owe us an apology for believing everything they read in the right-wing press, and for being too lazy to bother to inform themselves. David Redshaw, Gravesend, Kent
To The Guardian
Only one apology is required: “I am sorry to have been so intolerant of views I do not share. Yes, Remainers have the right to be apprehensive about our economic future and dismayed that we are leaving a project that has brought peace to Europe over many decades. Yes, Leavers have the right to worry about the structure and direction of the EU, and to resent the huge democratic distance between its institutions and its citizens. Yes, the UK is culturally and ideologically unsuited to a closer union. Yes, there is no right answer. In essence, we have a choice between ideology taking us out of the EU and pragmatic economics keeping us in. If I try really hard, I can almost see the viewpoint of all the people I oppose. And yes, I agree that somehow, sometime soon, we must learn to live with each other, once again.” Adrian Baskerville, Soberton, Hampshire