We appear to have – in Theresa
May – a Tory leader prepared to stoke wild, if not paranoid, xenophobia in
order both to rally her troops for a so-called “hard Brexit” and to prepare her
alibi when she fails to negotiate any sort of satisfactory agreement with the
EU 27.
The Grauniad
is reporting her saying “the events of the last few days have shown that
- whatever our wishes, and however reasonable the positions of Europe’s other
leaders - there are some in Brussels who do not want these talks to succeed.
Who do not want Britain
to prosper.”
She
has said; “Britain’s negotiating position in Europe has been
misrepresented in the continental press. The European commission’s negotiating
stance has hardened. Threats against Britain have been issued by European
politicians and officials. All of these acts have been deliberately timed to
affect the result of the general election that will take place on 8 June.”
If
we thought last year’s referendum result meant we had heard the last of
anonymous “Eurocrats” trying to straighten our bananas we clearly have another
think coming. Theresa May wants voters driven by English nationalism putting
their crosses next to her candidates in order to teach these interfering
Europeans a thing or two in a farcical rerun of the tragedy of the referendum
result.
Theresa
May is not, of course, the ranting idiot which her comments today make her
appear. She knows why she is saying such nonsense.
The
Tories want to fight this election on Brexit both because they wish to conceal
the mess they are making of everything else and – most importantly – because an
election fought on the issue of nationalism can be used to marginalise the
socialist alternative offered by Labour (just as the increasing dominance of
the nationalist-unionist distinction in Scotland is eclipsing our Party north
of the border).
The
Liberal Democrats welcome the opportunity to call this a “Brexit election”
because they hope that rallying remainers to their pitiably few banners is the
best route back from the oblivion they brought upon themselves through
coalition with the Tories. Really though this is the “food bank election”, the “zero
hours contract election” and the “redundant teachers election.”
We
have to fight this election on the real issues confronting our people in our
everyday lives – the funding crisis in the National Health Service and in
schools, the lack of affordable housing and the deterioration of public
transport, declining living standards and precarious employment. We need to
mobilise working class voters to vote in our own interests.
Politicians
who wrap themselves in the flag are invariably up to no good. When they have a
largely tame media dancing to their tune all we can do is campaign about the
issues which matter in our lives and do all we can to get through to people.
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