Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

You can well ask. Never has the political situation in this country been more confused and uncertain when a major constitutional and economic change is bearing down upon a parliament unable to agree about anything. May still thinks she can get her deal through the House. Perhaps. But Perhaps not. Then what?

A crash Brexit. Meaning what? Is the government ready for that? Are the measures in place to prevent a national emergency? Can we move smoothly from being in the EU to being out of it? What happens to Northern Ireland? What about the ports? You know the list. It goes on forever.

As for May’s political future, it is impossible even to guess whether she has one. She appears to be disaster proof. She governs without a cabinet, or one that is organised into a collective body. Instead she has a rampaging collection of ministers speaking with many tongues, a lot of them forked. None of them can agree. Best of all for May is that none can agree who could replace her. So possibly she will go on. Not on and on. On just for a bit.

But in the end Brexit will either happen in some form or it will be stopped. Then it will be conclude one way or another that cobbles together a majority both in parliament and the country. But it will not be over because a substantial minority will be bitterly upset at the outcome. That will make reuniting our country the political, social and economic priority. Even the Union itself will be damaged and in need of repair. A party itself bitterly divided like the Tory party cannot possibly provide the national leadership the mess will demand, not least because, through their disunion, it is  a mess of their own making.