“Let’s get Brexit done” – at all costs?
Alexandra Hill questions the PM’s hardline approach to Brexit.
The main message radiating from the Conservative Party Conference, embellished on stickers, billboards and party pamphlets was simply “Let’s get Brexit done”. No sophisticated debates on the problems with the Northern Irish backstop or the tariff implications of a No Deal, just a straight-forward message with the same blasé tone you would expect in the school playground between mums chatting about getting the food shop done.
In some ways, this message is appealing to party members and the general public alike, who are sick to death with the tiresome parliamentary squabbles over Brexit and the endless air and talk time devoted to it. But beyond the face value appeal of this ‘policy’, if it can warrant such a name, the implications behind it are far less pleasing.
The likelihood of achieving a deal popular with Parliament is growing slim, with negotiations at a stand still and the EU unwilling to make any concessions on May’s deal, highly sceptical of Mr Johnson’s latest proposal. In which case, ‘getting Brexit done’, which he seems to be wholeheartedly striving towards as PM, would by means of elimination, require a No Deal Brexit. This seems an outcome the PM is more than committed towards even with the legal barrier of the ‘Benn Act’ which should compel him, in the absence of a Deal, to seek an extension from the EU.
For Conservative and Brexit Party staunch Eurosceptics a No Deal is the Brexit gold-standard - a pure, untarnished Brexit. This is supposedly a clean break from the bureaucracy of the EU. By contrast, to the remainder of the population the prospect of a No Deal is far less thrilling. Dismissed as ‘Project Fear’ by hard-line Eurosceptics, major economic bodies such as the IMF, academic bodies like UK in a Changing Europe, and even the Government’s own papers, predict a significant economic shock in the event of a No Deal. This is alongside expected food and medicine shortages and an increase in street violence.
The PM’s response to these very real risks of a No Deal is once again blasé. It will start with a reflection upon our country’s supposed greatness and will be followed by a vague reassurance of the No Deal preparations. The latter point does very little to soothe the worries of many individuals and businesses when reports clearly state that a No Deal would still have severe economic implications, even with the necessary preparations. It is not difficult to understand this outcome because, in defaulting to WTO terms, the UK is doing something unprecedented - no country in the world trades solely on these terms.
While I, among many others, want Brexit ‘done’, the insinuation Mr Johnson makes in the Conservative Party slogan is that he’s prepared to make it happen at all costs. Contrary to what Mr Johnson may like to believe, the democratic mandate for Brexit that was established in 2016 was not a democratic mandate for the hardest form of Brexit possible. The ‘Die’ part of the PM’s ‘Do or Die’ approach seems to be becoming more likely every day.
Pi Opinion content does not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial team, Pi Media society, Students’ Union UCL or University College London. We aim to publish opinions from across the student body - if you read anything you would like to respond to, get in touch via email.