Brexit remains the elephant in the room in UK politics

Boris Johnson celebrates the government's Brexit deal with the EU - Credit: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Leaders of the main Westminster parties are failing to call out this catastrophic error

Alastair Campbell is absolutely right – a majority of the UK population appears not to give a toss about Johnson’s failings, lies, false claims and dodgy dealings, but he should be assured that a lot of people are angry about the damage being done to our country. The government suppresses a lot of that anger by announcing populist measures, so quite a few people then shrug their shoulders and say, in effect, “Well, that’s OK then, at least he’s trying to do something about it” (whatever “it” is on that particular day, such is the frequency of the blunders – last week’s having been the education catch-up funding debacle).

In any case, getting angry doesn’t change anything, especially when most of the media support a PM who is manifestly unfit for office, but manages to blag his way through. What makes a difference is having a credible and united opposition. As things stand, I don’t really know what Labour stands for, what the vision is for a much better Britain, what their priorities would be if they came to power, how things would be different. What I see is internal strife and a policy vacuum. If I vote Labour, what am I voting for? At present, I don’t have a clue.

The manifold problems caused by Brexit are now really coming to the fore – the great British public will notice when there’s nobody to prepare their al fresco lunch in The Lake District or Cornwall, when the shortage of NHS workers causes their appointment to be postponed yet again, when the inferior work on their new home results in a snagging list the size of War and Peace, their new cheaper Chinese appliance goes up in flames and they finally realise just how many disadvantages Brexit has brought. Who is going to be brave enough to call out this catastrophic error, level with us and tell the public just how wrong we were to leave the EU? Then there would be a genuine choice, as EU membership signals a whole raft of very different policy choices, and a very different vision for the country’s future.

Brexit is the root of many people’s anger, but nobody is responding to it. It’s not just the elephant in the room, it’s a very large mammoth.

Anne Green

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