Any pretence of strong and stable government has given way to farce and fluster. We are told as a nation that only the Tory’s can an economy that works for everyone, that can weather us through global uncertainty, and can protect us from chaos. That is now roundly proven to be false. This Government’s shameful tenure has seen the homelessness increase, child poverty increase, condemnation by the UN, wages stagnate or shrink, our economy grind to a near halt and our reputation as a working democracy become a laughing stock internationally.
There is now no doubt in my mind that May’s Brexit strategy has failed, and she isn’t serving the interest of the country in continuing to pursue a deal that was dead on arrival. By her own confession she has cancelled Parliament’s vote on her deal because she would have lost it by significant margin. Her deal is hated by everyone - the only time in her career as Prime Minister that May has managed to unite the country. She has lost all authority, and every day this Government is allowed to continue is another we walk to the precipice.
Her claim to be negotiating further assurances from EU leaders is nothing more than a stalling tactic to trap Parliament and the country into accepting her deal. Immediately after securing a deal she said this is the only one available, and then fought tooth and nail to stop legal advice being published detailing the true nature of it. Now, when she faces a possible Government collapse, there is a better proposal to be secured. Nothing will come of this distraction, except further economic and political uncertainty that will continue to slide this country into a crisis that could take a lifetime to recover from.
Enough is enough, this Government needs to step aside. It has failed in its primary duty of looking after the national interests, so it should give way and open the issue to Parliament, or better still, the public. Theresa May has repeatedly changed her mind, is it not time to see if the public have?
The chances of her making it to Christmas without a leadership challenge are low, but even that is too long. Jeremy Corbyn now has a responsibility as the leader of the opposition to do his job and actually challenge the Government with a motion of no confidence. For 20-months he has sat on the fence while declaring that Labour would do better. Well, time to prove it. And if Corbyn won’t do it, then he should cross the floor and let Labour become an actual effective force of change.
Even as May announced the delay the markets reacted by devaluing our currency to a 20-month low. This comes at the same time as it’s reported we have seen our trade deficit increase as we continue to be more reliant on imports.
This national embarrassment, the ultimate act of self-sabotage, should never have happened in the first place. Holding a referendum on such a complicated and poorly understood issue was never a good idea, and one that will forever mark Cameron as one of the worst Prime Ministers this country has ever had. Risking the future of the country in an attempt to unite his party and see off a rising (but negligible) threat from UKIP was reckless and irresponsible. To use the European Union as a scapegoat for the misery our country has faced as a result of his own dogmatic austerity policies was political genius for all of 30 seconds, until the ramifications of that shoulder sloping was felt.
The Conservatives have overseen eight years of neglect to our public services; the most vulnerable in society, and to our identity as an open and tolerant country. For their final trick they now want to (barely) supervise the complete decimation of decades of trade agreements and foreign relations in an attempt to appease a public who have been betrayed, misdirected and outright lied to.
This country deserves better, and desperately needs it.
I would agree with Tom Inniss. The pity of it is that it could all have been avoided. The Conservative Government were not honest with the Electorate prior to the referendum and they are not being honest with the people of this country now. The Opposition is almost non-existent and has been in much the same situation during years of Tory blundering and austerity. In all the mistakes and errors made, Labour have not been able to lay a finger on the conservatives. It's almost as if we have not one but two conservative parties, one claiming the rights of government, yet both trying to adopt the same middle ground among voters. Is there a way forward? It seems most unlikely. At one time, Britain was called 'great'. It is on its way toward becoming the dustbin of Europe! Many many problems, no political solutions, no alternative parties, an electorate with no confidence in politics or politicians at home or abroad.