An article I never expected to see in the Daily Telegraph "Brexit is finally dead – and the Tory party will soon suffer the same fate"

Starmer will do well to avoid any Brexit reference, to get a full working majority he will need every vote he can get, a difficult coalition with small parties is a real possibility.

Kandinsky

Well reading some of the comments on this thread you’d think KS was going to do his best to reverse brexit if he wins the next election.

He won’t.

Need to improve your comprehension skills, Kandinsky. No-one has said that; just that he's likely to work more closely with the EU.

KS has close contact with EU, and I am quite sure discussions have already taken place as to how things can be improved greatly. Something that could never be done with Tories, who are up ot their neck in dishonesty and worse, vis-à-vis the EU.

Most Labour Party voters were Remainers.

KS should stop pandering to the tiny minority of LP voters in "red wall" constituencies who read the Daily Express or the Daily Mail and so were persuaded to vote Leave.

If this country is to prosper in the future we must prioritise closer relationships with the EU, ultimately leading to rejoining.

Sadly I doubt that I will live to see it.

The 27 member countries of the EU have been subjected to so much in the way of insults, hassle and expense because of brexit, they will not be welcoming to, even a very pro-EU UK government applying to rejoin.

If it ever does happen we would never regain the advantageous opt-outs we previously enjoyed and would have to join the Euro.

I am 77 and in reasonable health, but I cannot see it happening in my lifetime.

The damage done by the fraudulent referendum of 2016 is by far the worst thing that has happened to our country in my lifetime.

Thank goodness you arent running labour party strategy.

varian A minority (about 30% I think) of "usual" Labour voters voted to leave. The problem for Labour is that they're concentrated in the seats which switched to Conservative in 2019. I read somewhere that 70% of Labour voters supported Remain, but 70% of Labour seats supported Leave. I haven't checked it, but I think it's probably true. Not only that, but if Labour wants to win the next election, it needs to persuade voters who previously voted Conservative, many of whom voted Leave.

Katie59

Starmer will do well to avoid any Brexit reference, to get a full working majority he will need every vote he can get, a difficult coalition with small parties is a real possibility.

I agree. I am absolutely sure that Labour Party strategists understand the problems.

there was always something very important sitting behind that leave vote.

That's the crux of it really and it seems as though Labour does understand.

Underneath all the lies, there were real reasons why people were Euro-sceptic and they need to be addressed. Personally, I think they were wrong, but it doesn't change the fact that people had (and still have) real concerns.

growstuff

varian A minority (about 30% I think) of "usual" Labour voters voted to leave. The problem for Labour is that they're concentrated in the seats which switched to Conservative in 2019. I read somewhere that 70% of Labour voters supported Remain, but 70% of Labour seats supported Leave. I haven't checked it, but I think it's probably true. Not only that, but if Labour wants to win the next election, it needs to persuade voters who previously voted Conservative, many of whom voted Leave.

All the recent polls in the areas that voted Tory last time indicate that voters are turning back to Labour though, so it’s not quite that bleak. Labour are also likely to win a few seats back in Scotland, both from the Tories and SNP. There’s also the likelihood that Reform will split the Tory vote.

Many leave voters had legitimate grievances which were entirely the fault of the UK government but they were deceived by the right wing made in into blaming the EU

The right wing press deceived them

varian

Many leave voters had legitimate grievances which were entirely the fault of the UK government but they were deceived by the right wing made in into blaming the EU

In 2013 none other than Boris Johnson advised fellow ministers to stop blaming Brussels for all our problems.

"If we left the EU, we would end this sterile debate, and we would have to recognise that most of our problems are not caused by “Bwussels”, but by chronic British short-termism, inadequate management, sloth, low skills, a culture of easy gratification and underinvestment in both human and physical capital and infrastructure,”

... which is why I have never been convinced that his 'commitment' to BREXIT is anything other than a means to an end - self advancement. And why the oven-ready deal was anything but...

He's managed however to persuade an awful lot of people that he got Brexit done on their behalf. And fortunately for him but unfortunately for us, the Pandemic came along and muddied the waters sufficiently to convince these same people that had it not been for the spread of the virus (and of course the reluctance of Remoaners to "get behind" our "once great country"), Brexit would be up and running.

He rushed the deal through - no one had time to comb through it - deliberately to keep the Red Wall on side and thus himself at the helm. He did not have to rush it through as far as the EU were concerned, they would have given him a grace period to deal with the ravages of the Pandemic, but he was not prepared to lose his majority by upsetting the more rabid Brexiters who didn't care what the cost of leaving meant to our country; as one pointed out to me when I suggested we might in the future have difficulties in the supply of certain drugs which could possibly have devastating affects for some, "too bad, I don't care". And this was not an isolated response.

In my opinion, and it is only my opinion, Brexit was the biggest confidence trick played on the British public by a man whose obsessive ambition has ruined the country almost beyond repair. And he is not done yet. There are those in the party who believe he should return as their saviour and enough people want him back to make it a distinct possibility.

Johnson used the Brexit situation for his own end, it's the way he runs hs entire life, but it wasnt just down to Johnson, the leave vote was complex and it's not a good idea to ignore the reasons behind it.

Dickens, it is not'just' your opinion- itis exactly what happened.

growstuff

varian A minority (about 30% I think) of "usual" Labour voters voted to leave. The problem for Labour is that they're concentrated in the seats which switched to Conservative in 2019. I read somewhere that 70% of Labour voters supported Remain, but 70% of Labour seats supported Leave. I haven't checked it, but I think it's probably true. Not only that, but if Labour wants to win the next election, it needs to persuade voters who previously voted Conservative, many of whom voted Leave.

Glad you said this, now I don’t have to.😄

Those poor old Labour voters that read the Daily Express and Daily Mail hey? They keep getting it in the neck on forums.
If only they could be persuaded to only read The Guardian.😂

Galaxy

Johnson used the Brexit situation for his own end, it's the way he runs hs entire life, but it wasnt just down to Johnson, the leave vote was complex and it's not a good idea to ignore the reasons behind it.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Oreo

Those poor old Labour voters that read the Daily Express and Daily Mail hey? They keep getting it in the neck on forums.
If only they could be persuaded to only read The Guardian.😂

I think it's a bit unhealthy to only read the G.

Better to read widely. And, sometimes, it's illuminating to read the foreign press, too, when it's focusing on British politics.

“Better to read widely. And, sometimes, it's illuminating to read the foreign press, too, when it's focusing on British politics.”

Probably not too many of us can read French or German newspapers but the Irish papers give a different perspective.

It’s very easy to get an international perspective on the UK written in English. Reuters, New York Times, The Local are ones I read regularly, but there are many more - you could spend all day on it if you were so inclined.

Before you slate UK for all our troubles being Brexit. Look at the debts and diffucutues if Spain, Greece, Italy and France, none had the package of help we had in UK
Our economy is severely impounded by the boatloads of economic refugees we have each day, why? victims of abuse come through safe countries to come her, why?
Our problems with implementation of Brexit need to be sorted and quick and that means everyone from all parties to stop point scoring and work together.

Oreo

Those poor old Labour voters that read the Daily Express and Daily Mail hey? They keep getting it in the neck on forums.
If only they could be persuaded to only read The Guardian.😂

At least they’re acknowledging that leave voters can read 😉

There was an interesting discussion between two pharmacists on Radio 4 yesterday. One of them stated that the drug shortage had nothing to do with Brexit, it is a worldwide problem.
But hey, what does she know compared to the experts we have on GN.

Again, (and again), it is a worldwide problem - and this is why Brexit makes it so much worse for the UK-

which has to compete for drugs (and so much other stuff too) with countries which are part of big Unions, like the EU, have no issues with transport and import red tape, no channel to cross, and higher or even much higher value currencies.

When there is a shortage, you prioritise people in your own group, and where it is easy to export, frictionless, and no messing with foreign currency, as said, especially at low value.

But it was all “oven ready”. You must be mistaken as Boris doesn’t lie and nor does The Daily Mail.