So you can't then. Surprise surprise.
Brexit divided England and Wales from Scotland and Northern Ireland. It divided political parties and families; the young and their elders; business and trade unions; and friend from friend. As its full impact becomes apparent in the New Year, old wounds may re-open.
In other words, we shouldn't have done it because those that didn't win are upset about it.
There is no consensus on Brexit, and never has been. It was a bitterly divisive policy, and uncorked a populism that may be difficult to quell.
Another statement citing the obvious, and populism only becomes a problem, and is used as a pejorative, when folk decide to support a cause eschewed by those supporting an opposing view.
he Referendum debate was unlike any I have known before. Emotion overcame reality. And, in the search for hearts and minds and votes, fiction defeated fact and fostered a belief in a past that never was – whilst boosting enthusiasm for a future that may never be.
I would suggest his emotions have run away with him.
In the Referendum, Britons voted to leave the European Union. I have never hidden my view, nor have I changed it. To my mind – and I am no starry-eyed European – Brexit is the worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime.
Is it really, well we all have opinions, and his foreign policy decisions, particularly his enthusiasm for the ERM as chancellor, sent us into recession.
He's a EU fanatic.
I have seen the EU from the inside and know its frustrations. But have no doubt we were better off in than we will be out.
And others completely disagree with yet another of his opinions.
The decision to leave will damage our future in many ways, and the reassurances we are given are unconvincing.
Will it?
Promises made will not – indeed, cannot – be kept. To leave the EU – to separate ourselves from our neighbours – was sold as “regaining sovereignty”, but it is, and will prove to be, a long and painful ball and chain on our national wellbeing.
The corrupt EU, with its two parliaments, history of waste and corruption,
and the criminal negligent in charge is a ball and chain we're well rid of.
After the Referendum, Brexiteers did not even bother to argue the merits of their case – why should they? – it was “the will of the people”.
No shit Sherlock, the merits don't need to be argued over, that was the point of the referendum, to decide one way or the other. When you lose that, you can carry on arguing if you like, but eventually, the democratic process must be observed.
And yes, it was the will of the people, something he has no respect for.
And once “the will of the people” was asserted as a repeated mantra – and the Brexit leaders claimed to speak for all “the people” – any opposition to Brexit became illegitimate, and any contrary view was howled down.
Opposition to Brexit howled down? Parliament did the howling, for 4 years, stymying every attempt to implement the will of the people, he was one of the biggest howlers.
Even Judges were denounced as “Enemies of the People” for ruling on a Point of Law. Opponents of Brexit were cowed, and free speech was curtailed. It was shameful. No democracy should find itself in such a position.
No democracy can ignore the will of the people, his wish was for this democracy to do exactly that, thankfully, him and his ilk were eventually
overruled.
Overseas, the outcome of the Referendum delighted our enemies and dismayed our friends. As our nation voted against its history and its self-interest, a bemused world looked on, wondering why we had chosen to become poorer and less influential.
Voted against its history, what's that all about?
Brexit was sold to the nation as a win-win situation. It is not. We were promised we would stay in the Single Market. We have not. We were told trade with the EU would be frictionless. It will not be.
No we fucking weren't, leaving the EU was clear and concise, we quit the SM, CU and ECJ, any deviation from these fundamentals meant not leaving.
All the above, as I said has been discussed before, and John Major's rant is no different to dozens of others.