Real possibility of a dystopian future

THE fact that the First Minister had to hold a meeting with council leaders yesterday to discuss the possibility of food and fuel shortages that may occur in the event of a “no-deal” Brexit is evidence in itself of the self-inflicted wound the UK is suffering from.

Until recently it was taken as read that a government would do nothing to endanger the availability of essential goods like food or fuel.

Yet we are now faced with the real possibility of such a dystopian scenario coming to pass.

Those who attended yesterday’s meeting have had to tread a very fine line.

While acknowledging the logistical challenges they will face if nodeal becomes a reality, they are understandably anxious to ensure that nothing they say encourages people to engage in panic buying.

As Andrew Morgan, the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, put it, the bigger danger may come from panic buying than from actual shortages attributable to Brexit.

Nevertheless, it can’t be denied that the possibility of food scarcity is a tangible one. Britain is not selfsufficient in food – nor is it necessarily desirable that it should be. In the same way that we have outstanding produce that can be exported, it’s perfectly reasonable for us to consume some of the excellent items imported from overseas.

The beauty of being in the single market is that we are currently able to trade such goods within the EU without having to endure bureaucratic checks of the kind that used to be in place.

It’s a huge irony that those who spent decades moaning about EU “red tape” support a Brexit which will potentially create more red tape than the UK has been exposed to for a very long time.

The UK Government should be ashamed of having brought us to this sorry pass. It has allowed dogma to take precedence over the wellbeing of the citizens it is meant to be serving.

Currently Theresa May is using the threat of a no-deal Brexit to blackmail MPs into supporting the poor deal she negotiated with the EU – a deal she has refused to say would be better from an economic point of view than staying in the EU. All the indications are that her attempt will fail miserably, and that it will be rejected decisively when the House of Commons votes on it next week. The obvious way out of this troubling situation is to hold another referendum with Remain as an option.