The resignations of Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, and Brexit Secretary, David Davis, along with other government ministers, show that there is no real consensus on what Brexit means.
There is a jagged oozing fissure right through the Conservative government and party, just as there is across the country, because Brexit is as enigmatic as ever.
And if the politicians, and the country, can’t agree on what Brexit means today, then how could voters have known what Brexit meant in the referendum of over two years ago?
So, here’s the simple truth: Nobody gave ‘informed consent’ for Brexit. They could not have done, because in the 2016 referendum, nobody was sufficiently informed about Brexit.
On the contrary, the country was entirely misinformed.
There was no blueprint, plan, proposal or manifesto for Brexit. Just a lot of fairy-tale claims and promises that have all turned out to be false.
If the details of Brexit had been agreed, we’d have voted on those details on 23 June 2016. But we didn’t have any details.
Over two years later, Theresa May can pretend there is harmony in her Cabinet on the type of Brexit Britain will get, but even as she speaks, it’s all falling apart.
How can anyone claim that the country knew what it was voting for in June 2016 when it’s taken until July 2018 for the government to work out a plan for Brexit?
And then for that plan to result in Cabinet resignations, because that’s not the Brexit they had in mind?
And then for that Brexit plan to be undeliverable – because the plan relies on the EU allowing Britain to break its own rules, which they won’t do. Why should they?
Brexit is entirely undeliverable. It was never anything more than an illusion.
It appealed to people who were fed-up with a host of issues, that had nothing to do with the EU, but it seemed that Brexit was the magic word that could fix everything.
But Brexit won’t fix anything. It will break us apart. It is already.
The government keeps going with their daft Brexit plans because they say that’s the will of the people. They think that’s what Britain wants.
But that’s an illusion too. Britain – and Britons – don’t want this. How could this mess be the will of anyone?
We are witnessing our country being dismantled, destroyed, and our international reputation disintegrated.
Nobody can want this.
Nobody would have voted for this if they had known the truth two years ago.
More and more of us can see that Brexit has no clothes. It stands naked, forlorn and shivering before us, dying and gasping for breath, with nothing to offer the nation but years and decades of misery.
If our political masters are truly interested in ‘the will of the people’ they should have no hesitation in asking us what is our will today.
They dare not because they know our answer would be: bury Brexit now.
We want our country back pre-23 June 2016. It wasn’t so bad after all.
And we want our continent back. Europe is where we belong. At the centre, in the heart of it, and not languishing on the periphery.
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Other articles by Jon Danzig:
- Why Brexit is madness
- How did we get stuck with Brexit?
- A new vote on Brexit means more democracy, not less
Follow my journalism page on Facebook: Jon Danzig writes
Follow my Stop Brexit campaign on Facebook: Reasons2Remain
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