Now you may be familiar with a number of names who simply will not give up on the
idea of a second referendum on membership the EU: Andrew Adonis, Nick Clegg,
Alastair Campbell to name but three - but last week they were joined by a
rather unexpected name .
My mind is actually changing on this ...
I....What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises - will never give up
They will go on whingeing and whineing and moaning all the way through this process
So maybe...just maybe, I'm reaching the point of thinking that
we should have a second referendum on EU membership (host) the whole
thing? Yes of course, of course, unless you want to have a multiple-choice referendum
I think if we had a second referendum on EU membership
we'd kill it off for a generation, the percentage that would vote to leave next
time would be very much bigger than it was last time round and we may just
finish the whole thing off...
Now after those comments were made, Farage was very clear
He said that he'd been misunderstood. He didn't really want a second referendum,
he was just worried that one would happen.
But he used the word 'should'
what does 'should' mean? Look in the dictionary - it means obligation, duty,
the correct thing to pursue. Now I have a theory
Farage really does want a second referendum and you can tell why from
something on his Twitter feed, surprise surprise
I have been taking the view, I think of all leavers since the referendum that we've had a
vote, it wasn't the best of three, hey can we please accept we've taken this fork
in the road and will you please our government and Parliament get on and
carry out the will of the people. So the last thing I've ever wanted is
another referendum on this issue - but - I began to realise since Monday, when I
went to meet Mr. Barnier, that it's just not as simple as that, because my
pessimism in that meeting with Barnier, realising he's not going to give us
a good deal was of course backed up by the three leading British businessmen
who went to see him yesterday. We are not going to be offered a grown up, rounded
trade and services deal.
So the problem is that Nigel is worried that Britain won't get a 'fair, grown up, well rounded trade
deal', what does that mean? Well let me explain. He wants us to leave the EU,
- pretty obvious - but he also wants us to leave organizations like the EEA and the
EFTA, these are things which basically keep us in the single market. Now it
would be easy to leave the EU but stay in these organisations, but Farage wants
more than that. Why? Because he wants Britain to set its own trade policy with
other countries and to be able to cap migration - it wouldn't be able to do either if it
was in the EEA or the EFTA, which is why he wants a trade deal equivalent to
that of Canada, or what's being called Canada ++, or is it Canada +++
I'm not quite sure
If the basic deal is - I'm are being very crude about this -
Is Canada plus the City or something like that
Well, Canada plus plus plus would be one way of putting it
But the big problem with a Canada style deal is that yes we could probably have, broadly
speaking, tariff and barrier free trade with the EU, yes we could set our own
trade policy, yes we could even cap migration - all the things that the Brexiteers
want but there's one big problem. The city would lose out, it would lose
passporting rights, it would be at a distinct disadvantage in regard to the
rest of the EU, the rest of Europe, particularly Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and
Frankfurt, and within a generation almost certainly would lose its preeminence as
a global centre for financial services. So why does this matter to Nigel Farage?
well I'll let you into a little secret: Nigel Farage is a member of the
establishment, he is a member of the banking elite he claims to so detest.
He went to Dulwich College, he then proceeded to be a commodities trader in
the City before joining, guess who, the Conservative Party, he's a Thatcherite
After fighting for Britain's exit from the European Union for the best part of
20 years Nigel Farage is finally being confronted with what that looks like
The City of London losing out it losing its profile and financial preeminence to
Amsterdam to Frankfurt and that's going to be accompanied, inevitably, by a
socialist government. Now is that what Nigel Farage thought winning would look like?
You'll have to ask him - but more than anything else it's those two
phenomena, the decline of the City and the increased inevitability of a Corbyn
government, which tells you exactly why Nigel Farage wants a second referendum on the EU.
Because if he can't have it his way, and neoliberalism and Thatcherism
on steroids he'll want us to stay - and keep things exactly as they are.