Irish Examiner view: Signs of Brexit’s failure to deliver

Weakened economy

Michael Gove is as sensitive to the shifting political winds as anyone in his party and may have sensed forthcoming alternative thinking in the Sunak administration Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The predictable bleating of a ‘Brexit sell out’ following a cross-party meeting to discuss how the UK can “make Brexit work better with our neighbours in Europe” and paranoic allegations of a plot to subvert the will of the British people is are truly pathetic in the light of the reality facing the country.

That such luminary Brexiters such as Nigel Farage, John Redwood, and David Frost reacted to news of the meeting at Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire with allegations of foul play and underhand dealings is no surprise. 

What was a surprise was the attendance of Brexit orchestrator and UK cabinet minister Michael Gove at the discussions. 

Gove was present, along with other Tory grandees such as former party leader Michael Howard and former chancellor Norman Lamont. Labour was represented by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow defence secretary John Healey. 

Former Labour cabinet minister Peter Mandelson chaired the event.

Attendees also included diplomats, foreign policy experts, and prominent business figures and the thrust of the discussions concerned the undeniable fact that since leaving the EU, Britain’s economy has weakened sharply and that Brexit has not delivered. 

A report yesterday by a senior Bank of England official concluding that Britain had suffered a £29bn loss in business investment since the decision to leave in 2016 was yet another indication that Brexit has not, indeed, delivered anything other than an economic shellacking.

Those who trumpeted the glory of Brexit and the opportunities it presented to a Britain free of European shackles have begun to look rather silly in recent months as their veil of lies, half-truths, and downright false promises has slipped.

As a political opportunist sans pareil, it appears Gove’s attendance even took 10 Downing Street by surprise, it appears, but he is as sensitive to the shifting political winds as anyone in his party and may have sensed forthcoming alternative thinking in the Sunak administration. 

If so, he is possibly a more adroit political operator than many thought.

For the Brexit hardliners still clinging to the idea their cause is just, reasonable, and good for the country, there is little or no plausible explanation for their obstinance.