Weird Granny Slater wrote:This is a self-sustaining fantasy of the modern Left. Look behind, around and under the rhetoric to what the Tories actually do and you'll see it shares a directional position more or less in line with Labour. The Tories out-Blaired Blair in order to stay alive. Whether you want to call that left, right or extreme centre makes little difference. But the fact is there's but the thickness of a manifesto cover between them.
As far as Europe-the-political-entity is concerned, there's a long tradition of Labour scepticism not limited to Benn, Shore and Hoey (and Corbyn until he caved). That the modern Starmerite 'Left' see leaving the EU as a project of the 'Right' testifies to the shallowness of its political understanding, and is a major reason Labour cocked it up in December 2019.
The only point you're making is that both left and right have opposed our integration into the European movement in varying degrees and at different times. I agree.
What you've ignored is that our recent drift away from Europe was as a result to a considerable extent to the influence of Farage, UKIP and their assorted rag, tag and bobtail followers like one time communist Claire Fox and current eminences grise like Munira Mirza and Ross Kempsell. Cameron's failure to control his party Eurosceptics (Major's 'bastards') was only the start of a progression away from the centre of the party. And if you think that was a movement to the left then you really are failing to grasp the facts.
You ignore the names that I mention as no longer welcome - Grieve, Gauke et al. All centrist politicians. Do you really think that the current party doesn't stand to the right of their political views? Oh please. The fact is that every Tory PM from MacMillan to Cameron has wanted the UK to be part of the EU single market with all its benefits and associated costs. So the current party does not stand to the right of these guys?
But Europe is not the only symptom of a shift to the right. Further evidence is the ushering in of a type of hybrid authoritarianism. This is characterised by a more centralised and often secretive form of government.
There are many examples of what Boris Johnson is doing to dismantle the checks and balances of Britain’s democracy. Illegally suspending parliament, rigging appointments to parliamentary committees, the use of decrees and fast-track laws to cut parliament out of the law-making process and forbidding scrutiny of all manner of laws are just some of the tactics being used. In addition, the government has undermined the country’s independent legal system, the Human Rights Act and is happy to flagrantly break international law in front of the world.
One of the most important freedoms democracy provides for is the right to protest. Even this is now at threat. Under the guise of Covid and using its own special powers – Priti Patel, the Home Secretary is now seeking to make it illegal for protesters to obstruct Parliament, the courts, and the distribution of newspapers or broadcast media in a way that prevents them exercising their democratic duties.
When asked about the proposed powers, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove ominously said it is “important the police get the powers they need.”
Currently, the Public Order Act gives the power to prohibit protest marches which cause serious public disorder – but not any other form of protest. What this does is give unconditional authority and full discretionary powers to stop any protest whatsoever when it deems it convenient to do so.
I could go on but I expect I'd only be wasting more Sunday night time. I'll be branded as a rabid leftie on this forum come what may. I'm not. I've never been a member of any political party and prefer to judges issues separately wherever possible.