Dear Kizzi,
As Brexit nears the finishing line at the end of December, with the huge uncertainties remaining on whether the UK will reach a deal or no deal with the European Union, it would be appropriate to reflect upon the most turbulent 4 years in our politics for decades.
The whole world as we know it is going through a civil war, a revolution and indeed an identity crisis based on the ideals of capitalism, socialism, liberalism, and communism. Brexit encapsulates this perfectly. All these conventions that we have been used to for so long are being challenged. Change can create pessimism in all of us. Brexit marks this change, and it should be embraced. Regardless if you are a staunch remainer, brexiteer or you are neutral on Brexit is neither here nor there.
17.4 million people voted to leave on June 23rd, 2016 and that should be respected. Historians will look back at the process of Brexit with sheer hysteria. We must reflect upon these 4 years as a national disgrace. It has exposed those right at the heart of our politics. It would be far too simplistic to suggest that it has only exposed the incompetence of conservatives and the lies of the leave campaign where the infamous advertisement on the side of the Brexit bus said that £350 million will be put aside for the NHS if we leave. We all know this is a fallacy.
As exposing as that is, it has mainly exposed the sheer contempt of the opposition parties who have blocked a Brexit deal 3 times. 3 times when former Conservative party leader and Prime minister Theresa May opted for a closer relationship with the European Union where the UK would have remained in the customs union and single market. The opposition parties are partly to blame for this mess. Whilst the opposition party’s job is to scrutinise and hold elected governments to account, they have played party political lines and have blatantly ignored the core values of representing their constituents.
The double standards of the opposition parties could not be more palpable. Throughout this process they have all spoken about the Brexit campaign particularly on the leave side being dirty and a stain on democracy. It’s comical when you think that democracy should only work when it applies solely on your beliefs. With the entitlement of some of the opposition party politicians thinking it is acceptable to attempt to overturn a referendum.
By that logic, why don’t we have a second general election every time we may not like the party who democratically gets appointed into government?
The arrogance and sanctimony are sickening. This is all coming from someone who would have voted to remain if they had the opportunity to do so at the time. Democracy is universal and is not exclusive to the left, centre and right of politics.
The opposition party’s behaviour throughout this process has ignited more divisions. These entrenched divisions could have been avoided if compromise were right at the heart of the house of commons agenda. It is devastating and mystifying to think that people have lost friends and have separated from their families based on the Brexit vote. This has highlighted how divided our society and our politics has been over the last few years. It is sad to see. Gone are the days where you spoke to people from different political affiliations, you shared common ground and inevitable differences, shook hands, and moved on.
It is no surprise that labour was destroyed in the 2019 election. It is hard to believe it has been a year since the historic general election where the Tories gained their highest majority since Margaret Thatcher’s third victory in 1987. They still have not comprehended that they are partly to blame for the gridlock in parliament. They have blamed everybody else apart from themselves. One of the credible points they mentioned in their manifesto was tackling social justice. This is shared by a lot of people across the country. If they were to take a strong stance on Brexit, then they could have had a serious chance of being in power today and enacting on their manifesto pledges. Due to their shortcomings, it is unlikely that they will even win the 2024 election. We are uncharted times in politics so who knows where the political landscape will be by then.
It is not unreasonable to suggest that Brexit stems from a mini civil war of the labour party. Labour had abandoned their once respected and unique traits of connecting with the working class and their traditional northern seats. This is a quality that the conservatives could never quite grip. Labour had unfairly generalised all northerners who voted to leave as racist, stupid, and uneducated. Most people do not deny that racism is prevalent in the United Kingdom but to generalise was a nail in the coffin for labour and was deeply incendiary.
Who is to say that people of colour did not vote for Brexit?
As a black person, we should not stigmatise and assume that people of colour should not have the right to vote for Brexit or have conservative leaning views. As revolutionary as the black lives matter movement is, with the combined awareness it has provided in tackling and speaking about racial inequality globally, despite disagreeing strongly on defunding the police and abolishing capitalism. There are still many false and upsetting perceptions of people of colour that should be eradicated, why should it be a stigma that people of colour should even dare to have conservative leaning views?
Black people and any ethnic minority can be anything they choose to be. I believe strongly that people of colour are not monoliths and should not be treated as such in society. To deny that people of colour should have that right is a form of oppression. Using derogatory terms such as “coon”, “coconut” and “Uncle Tom” will not deter people from voting. It will solidify their beliefs further.
Whilst most ethnic minorities voted to remain, it should not be a surprise in a 2016 study by the Statista Research Department on the day of the result that 27% of Black people voted to leave, whilst 33% of Mixed people voted to leave, whilst 33% of the Asian community voted to leave, whilst 30% of the Chinese population voted to leave with 35% of other ethnicities voting to leave compared with 53% of the white population voting to leave.
We should be under no delusion that the demographics of people of colour voting for conservative leaning parties is changing. This could not be more accurate of the record-breaking turnout of the 2020 Presidential Election in the United States.
In a BBC article titled “US election 2020: Why Trump gained support among minorities” by Ashitha Nagesh. She shows an exit poll of 15,285 people with a comparison on how ethnic minorities voted for the democrats and republicans in 2020 compared to 2016.
This all highlights that whether people on the left of politics like it or not, a tide is turning. In the same article Ashitha Nagesh, a video titled ‘Now the world sees our vote matters’ – how Biden depended on black voters. It shows a diversity of black voices showing support for Donald Trump and Joe Biden. There is a consensus within the video with all of those interviewed that their votes have been “taken for granted”
In the video Quninto Lucas Has mentioned that regardless of how people vote in the election that “we’re one,we’re all Americans at the end of the day. And, if Biden is elected president of the United States, I feel that he will be a president for all people, not just black people”
Teresa Wilson also mentions that “They will be held accountable, they know that if it wasn’t for the black vote, they wouldn’t even be in the position that they are now”
These are all sentiments that many people share regardless of race. Taking this all into consideration, Labour should have understood that Wales and the North have felt neglected from the conservative’s controversial deregulation policies for decades. They could have ceased this opportunity, yet they decided to be wrapped in the cotton wool of close-mindedness and bigotry.
Bigotry and all forms of inequality is not mutually exclusive to the right of politics. It’s on all sides. To ignore your own bigotries is a form of bigotry within itself. Nobody is denying that the conservatives have entrenched issues of themselves regarding Islamophobia. Their recent and despicable treatment of the Caribbean community regarding the appalling way that former Home Secretaries Amber Rudd and Theresa May had handled with the Windrush scandal was rightfully condemned and exposed in 2018.
The legacies of this are still being felt today with a report into 50 people from the Caribbean community being threatened with deportation. Some of the opposition parties feel as if they have a moral high ground and are completely oblivious to their own biases and bigotries. Labours damming 130-page report into Antisemitism and Islamophobia under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have encapsulated this hugely. His insensitive comments claiming that Antisemitism under his leadership had been ‘exaggerated’ whilst suggesting in another statement that “One anti-Semite is too many” is nothing short of extraordinary.
There is a tragic correlation between the attitudes of the democrats in the US, and Labour in the UK. Labour expect working class people and ethnic minorities to vote for them whilst the conservatives, it seems do not. They took the voters for granted and people from all backgrounds have had enough. We should hold Labour to account more severely than the conservatives as we know what the conservatives in some of their atrocious policies and rhetoric stand for. The Labour party has gone into disarray over the last few years and are unrecognisable. The Labour Party can and must do better than this if they have any chance in hell of winning a general election.
Brexit’s fundamental policies on closing border’s and being tight on immigration may have undertones of racism attached to it but talking about immigration does not imply that you are racist. It is a concern that many people share, and it should not be avoided. It is the context from within these discussions that determine whether the individual holds racist and bigoted views towards immigrants from Europe and the rest of the world. It is a complex issue, and it should not be dealt with in a simplified manner.
Brexit has exposed some devastating realities on all sides of the political spectrum. The conservatives are just as guilty in causing the vitriolic atmosphere in our society. The rhetoric that some of the tory MPs have displayed in parliament has been nothing short of disgusting. They ought to be ashamed of themselves as governments should lead by example. We must not forget Labour’s Angela Rayner branding conservative MP Chris Clarkson “Scum” in The House of Commons on October 24th. They ought to be ashamed of themselves as governments and senior opposition party politicians should lead by example.
The conservatives have also been in the process of altering the Labour Party’s human rights legislation. During 2014 and the height of the coalition government. David Cameron according to the BBC was reported to have said that “A future Conservative government would scrap Labour’s Human Rights Act and put a British Bill of Rights in its place”
In the same year Dominic Raab and Shami Chakrabarti were on the now defunct BBC’s Daily Politics. In response to David Cameron’s statement Labour’s Shami Chakrabarti said on the programme that “You don’t sign up to treaty’s, you don’t sit in the convention and the council of Europe and then show contempt for an international court of law”
This encapsulates the fears that many people who voted to remain share. The conservative Party under Boris Johnson has prorogued parliament to try and get Brexit through, they lied to her majesty the Queen and have recently formed the internal market bill which breaks international law to get Brexit through. Whilst the government have confirmed with recent Brexit negotiations with the European Union that some compromises have been made so they will not use the Internal market Bill.
Neither here nor there, the conservative party are taking huge gambles with democracy which highlights yet more double standards that the house of commons holds towards the public, how democracy should remain universal and more importantly the safety of the people should be paramount. Historians will look at this as a draconian farce, you would have expected this during Oliver Cromwell’s premiership, not in a modern 21st century society. This taps into the dirty reputation that the conservatives inherit in their rhetoric and subsequent policies. It is understandable and credible that a significant chunk of the population detests the conservative party as some of their policies are inherently cruel.
Brexit will be a difficult period in the interim. Change is always difficult and painful particularly for those who are struggling to make ends meet. Who is to say that joining the European Bloc in 1973 wasn’t difficult in the interim?
For someone who identifies as a centrist, (the groans I hear), is fiscally conservative, socially very liberal and who is willing to discuss issues in a transpartisan perspective. We must go back to basics. The pantomime of politics is a mere distraction from the most important values that binds our society together. That is tolerance, inclusivity with a willingness to listen to those who we disagree with. Once we go back to this then society will be a much better place and the politicians will have no choice but to improve their relations with their constituents.
Chaska May
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/519308/eu-referendum-voting-intention-in-uk-by-age/ (Statista Research Department) (2016)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54972389 (US election 2020: Why Trump gained support among minorities) (Ashitha Nagesh) (2020)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54675232 (Conservative MPs ‘faced abuse’ over Angela Rayner’s ‘scum’ remark) (BBC-Nick Eardley)(2020)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-54734692 (BBC) (2020)
Daily Politics interview with Dominic Raab and Shami Chakrabarti https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-29461982 (2014)
