Well we’ve all heard the news by now-link below if not. There undoubtedly going to be long cycle of over analysis, so I will use my space here to give my own take on this “excitement“;
This in my judgement is probably the worst decision of the Prime Minister to date and here’s why;
- This step would have made sense much earlier or at the very least prior to triggering article 50. Now that we are in this mess it is hard to understand why we’re here when the decision has the potential of jeopardizing our position in the negotiation-why the risk when we’ve been lectured by the government of keeping negotiation terms under wraps to avoid doing this exact thing.
- I personally believe that the conservative party is much weaker at this stage, particularly with the way BREXIT process has been handled. So I do not see they will maintain or increase their majority in Parliament in which case this could signal a major weakness going into the negotiations. That said the difficulty here is that Labor is also in a bit of leadership quagmire which may serve the Conservatives but I still predict this will not lead to any significant gains to the ruling party because of the amount of baggage they accumulated since PM May took charge.
As to the real reason behind this call for a snap election it is because of the clear signs out of the EU suggesting that BREXIT negotiations are likely to be more difficult than previously compounded with the complexity of the issues involved discovered by the BREXIT team; so the Prime Minister wishes a clear mandate to proceed through an election as the lesser of 2 evils when considering a 2nd referendum, particularly for BREXITeers in her cabinet. The main takeaway point from this is that what I (and many others) repeatedly suggested about Leaver’s referendum campaign promises not stacking up is actually/slowly becoming quite obvious.
So based on the above what I do hope is for the Liberal parties-particularly the Greens, Liberal Democrats and the SNP as well as Remainer’s in other parties-to use this opportunity and finally reunite in making “the 1 case” – NOT for Leave/Remain – but to make a strong argument for a BREXIT Process that ensures a good deal for Britain and one approved by the people (or their elected reps in Parliament) – one that allows people to compare between what was promised and what we actually get. This is NOT about party politics but a vision on a specific subject matter that should cross party lines. Remember EU member states themselves will have a say on the deal so it inconceivable that we do not have the same privilege. In an ideal world a coalition government going into these negotiations would have helped create a balance within the negotiating team. At any rate I hope leaders within these parties take this opportunity with the attitude of ‘loosing NOT an option’. If they fail again to make the best of this opportunity they will be the ones that will need to announce a snap leadership election in their own parties because if I remember correctly irrespective of election results we’ll still end up with same 2 critical jobs at stake;
- Ensuring proper oversight during these difficult negotiations to get the best deal for this country while at the same time standing up. It also makes sense to me that the negotiating team as mentioned above is non-partisan and includes members from different parties considering the profound impact these negotiations will have on our future for generations to come.
- Continue to promote a new vision for the European project and make the case that Britain is stronger for/in the EU.
Hope that helps.