Bath’s MP, Wera Hobhouse has set out her view on how the Liberal Democrats should position themselves on Europe in a post-Brexit political landscape.
It comes after her recent announcement regarding her bid for leadership of the Liberal Democrats, who positioned themselves as the ‘stop Brexit’ party over recent years.
Wera said “Brexit is a mistake for our country. EU membership is in Britain’s best interests. The fact that Brexit is happening does not change that.”
“We must prepare our hearts for the possibility that it may take a decade or more, but EU membership can become a reality whenever the British people choose democratically to elect a majority of MPs ready to pursue that goal.”
The Liberal Democrats will gather for their Spring Conference next weekend in York. The party has recently signed up thousands of new members who joined as a result of the opposition to Brexit. The party’s future position on Brexit will be a hotly debated issue.
Wera continued: “It’s vital that the powerful pro-European movement in the UK stays together.”
“I recognise that we cannot join the European Union any time soon. However, I will never deviate from singing our pro-European values from the rooftops.”
“The fact that Brexit has happened does not devalue the reasons at the heart of our fight to stop Brexit. Indeed, we should be as proudly pro-European as ever.”
Wera, who was elected on a pro-European platform after co-founding Bath for Europe, was the only Lib Dem MP in the last Parliament who voted against every single form of Brexit.
Wera finished: “Let’s stick to our principles and be confident that our time will come.”
It would be interesting to hear from Mrs Hobhouse and her fellow-EUphiliacs what “pro-European values” have to do with the step-by-step creation of a country called Europe in which the ancient nation states of the continent would be – and are becoming – vassal states subject to laws imposed by a supra-national bureacracy and a mock parliament, and enforced by a court in a tax haven also known as Luxembourg. A grim consequence of the dismantling of Europe’s nation states has been the re-emergence of the nationalism – from Sweden to Italy and France to Poland and Hungary – the project was, we have been told, designed to prevent.
Re-join after a decade or so? Guy Verhofstadt, the EU parliament’s arch-federalist negotiator has talked of the European Union as a “framework” in a “world of empires”. For framework, read empire. We all know, though, the fate of empires.
As for Britain, the notion that its place was in a continent-wide political union has for decades been based on a mis-reading of British and European history.
This is a comment that has come in from R Carson:
Despite having voted Remain, Ms Hobhouse’s issue of European membership is far less important to me than the issue of retaining our Democracy. Either Ms Hobhouse changes the name of the party she is fixated on becoming leader of, from Liberal Democrat to simply Liberal, or she finds a compelling argument which justifies her determination to overthrow the result of our last democratic referendum – and “They didn’t know what they were voting for” just won’t wash, as well as being patronising.
I realise there are many amongst us, led by Ms Hobhouse, who feel they ‘know better’ than the UK electorate, and feel entitled to tell that electorate what is good for them rather than what they’ve voted for. The electorate is not in need of a Nanny, but a Leader, and one undisputed quality of leadership is to listen to those you hope to lead. Ms Hobhouse appears to have her fingers in her ears and is humming loudly.
I’m an avid consumer of Ms Hobhouse’s press releases and follow her activities in Westminster. Yet from what I can see, she is clearly not attending to the urgent needs of her Bath constituents. Those are:
1. Security – currently compromised by drugs and associated activities. It’s a growing threat, and effective response is urgently needed.
2. Health – the proposed Clean Air Zone is a sop and unlikely to meet government targets. The long-awaited A36/46 bypass is needed, and work should commence asap. No ifs, no buts, residents’ lives are being shortened by this political procrastination. The ball is no longer in the long grass, it’s now deep in the Westminster jungle and I implore Ms Hobhouse to go in there and recover it..
3. Jobs – Bath needs local schemes in the city to make work more attractive than begging. There are currently schemes run by an organisation called Genesis – she could usefully throw her weight behind them.
If Ms Hobhouse becomes better able to distinguish between those matters that are Urgent, as opposed to those that are Important but not urgent, then she may well secure my vote. I want an effective Leader, not a well-meaning, virtuous politician who believes she’s looking after Bath’s interests. Security, Health, Jobs, those are Bath’s real interests and they need her 24 x 7 attention. Once those Urgent problems are resolved Ms Hobhouse can then return to the Important matters such as her interactive conference on the Future of Arts & Culture in Bath, regaining GB’s position in Europe as a vassal state (the Arkansas of the United States of Europe?), and realising whatever party leadership ambitions she may have.
Oh, and the small matter of Democracy, again – both Ms Hobhouse and Ms H Clinton seem to share the same opinion that their electorate are in dire need of their superior wisdom and that those who reject it need to have their mind changed because it’s faulty. I find that a touch Orwellian and quite alarming! As much as I had hoped we’d remain in Europe, not at the expense of Democracy, thankyou.