Independent Group beware: Brexit is a poor indicator of a person's politics
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When supporters of The Independent Group say British politics is crying out for a new party, they are absolutely right. The burning injustices, which Theresa May’s government pledged to solve, are burning as brightly as ever: numbers of homeless hospital patients are soaring , children in the north of England aren’t getting the same education as their southern contemporaries, and the poorest families in the country are now poorer than they were in 2013. And those are just the stories which hit the headlines this week.
The Conservatives have been far too busy squabbling about Brexit to think seriously about these issues, while Jeremy Corbyn and his cronies in ‘Labour’ prefer philosophising about Israel and Palestine to the dirty business of putting together a viable alternative domestic agenda. Austerity, the Conservatives most controversial policy, was mentioned just once in Labour’s 100 page 2017 manifesto.
So yes, The Independent Group is right to say politics is broken. But at the moment, it doesn’t look like they’ll be the ones to fix it. Bound by little other than a desperation to remain in the EU at all costs, they are running the very serious risk of turning into yet another Brexit protest party.
Ian Austin’s decision to leave the Labour Party this morning but not join The Independent Group speaks volumes. He, like Berger, Umunna and the other brave ex Labour MPs, is ashamed to remain in Labour while the party is awash with anti-Semitism. But as an MP with a northern, Brexit supporting constituency, believes that the referendum result should be implemented – putting him at odds with his fellow defectors.
As we’ve discovered over the last three years, Brexit cuts across all party lines. One Conservative MP, for instance, might be pro Brexit because he thinks the bureaucracy so prevalent in the EU slows down the free market, while another may want to stay in because she believes remaining in the trade bloc will ensure Britain’s economic stability. On the other side, one Labour MP may want to leave the EU because he believes his working class constituents are losing their jobs to European immigrants, while another may believe that reducing immigration is intolerant and illiberal.
In both instances, each politician holds values championed by their respective parties, but nonetheless disagrees with members of his/her own side on Britain’s future relationship with Europe. Even the Liberal Democrats have now split over Brexit – Stephen Lloyd MP resigned the whip in December in order to vote in favour of the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement.
In short, traditional 20th century politics refuses to make sense when it comes to Brexit, because a person’s position on Brexit – unless you can fully understand the myriad reasons behind that position – is a poor indicator of his or her worldview.
In light of this, The Independent Group, which prides itself on being “fit for the 21st century and not the last one”, should never have fallen into the trap of being dogmatic on Brexit. There is space for a new opposition to the Conservatives which fought for the people and issues forgotten by Corbyn, but that group would include Ian Austin (and Frank Field) – not alienate them.
When the Brexit saga is over – which, though it’s hard to believe it one day will be – TIG may well find that there is no space for a group of politicians united only because they all happened to reach the same conclusion on one existential question.
