07 May 2019

Federal Trust: The very odd couple: Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn

Director Brendan Donnelly argues that the current negotiations on Brexit between the government and the Labour Party are doomed to failure. Their failure will stem from and symbolise the contradictions underlying the whole Brexit project.

Of all the strange and unpredictable events generated by Brexit, the current negotiations between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition must be the oddest.

Both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn know that any agreement likely to be achieved between them will be, for diametrically opposed reasons, unacceptable to probably half of their respective Parliamentary parties.  If such an agreement could be passed by Parliament it would only be by the narrowest of majorities, in a way that would split both parties, probably irreparably. Yet both the Labour and the Conservative leaderships still believe that it is in their interest to continue, or at least to appear to continue, with these negotiations. Even more bizarrely, they affect to believe that the disastrous performance in the English local elections of the Conservative Party and the Labour Party’s failure to make gains constitute a mandate for their further negotiations.

Underlying this self-defeating pantomime is of course the fundamental truth that there are no good choices offered to anyone in any circumstances by Brexit. It is a delusion to imagine that more adept or consensual politicians could have avoided or even substantially mitigated the bleak and damaging menu of choices that Brexit inevitably implies. But particular urgency has been given to the May/Corbyn negotiations by the imminence of the European elections, which neither Party leader wants to contest. Both of them have a clear interest in preventing these elections by a “successful” outcome to their negotiations. Even if they are unable to do so, carrying on the talks will serve as a useful distraction from the embarrassments and challenges posed by the approaching polls on 23rd May. [...]

Full article on Federal Trust

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