Readers' Blog: Brexit could have a long-term impact on the evolution of the British political system
My British friends are often confused by Irish politics. The idea of a parliamentary system that doesn’t have a distinct left/right divide tends to baffle them.
“Yes, but that’s because it’s unionist and republican politics over there”, attempt some of the more confident armchair pundits before I remind them that I’m not talking about Stormont.
I explain about the Civil War, pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty factions, and the ultimate formation of Fianna Fáil (“no, not pronounced to rhyme with ‘sail’”) and Fine Gael (“actually… That one kind of does rhyme with ‘sail’”), but it never quite resonates in a culture where politics has been, in living memory, about Left v Right. Labour v Tories. Never the twain shall meet.
Brexit is changing this. Brexit is changing a lot of things about Britain, but perhaps one of the most long-term impacts will be the evolution of the British political system.
Before the referendum to leave the EU in June 2016, politicians from across the party spectrum joined forces to campaign for both Leave and Remain votes. Many Remainers argue that one of the reasons Leave won - and why Britain is in its current crisis state - is that not enough politicians would cross the divide and campaign on the issue at hand, choosing instead to focus on the usual party politics (Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a good example of one such MP, refusing to share a platform with Conservative politicians during the referendum campaign).
When the British Government began its Brexit negotiations with the EU, the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers departed for Brussels instead of a cross-party delegation representing all sections of the British voting public.
This decision seems particularly bizarre now given the current parliamentary deadlock at Westminster, but at the time it wasn’t even seriously considered - neither of the two major parties would even conceive of putting the national interest before partisanship. Blue or red before blue, red and white, clearly.
But in recent months, the mood has shifted. Last week, a group of seven Labour MPs announced they were defecting to form an independent group within the House of Commons, citing the party’s position on Brexit as one of their reasons.
Three Conservative MPs joined them soon after, along with another Labour colleague. While eleven MPs out of 650 is not exactly seismic, it is undoubtedly a sign of the times, and perhaps of more change to come.
As Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement makes about as much progress in Parliament as water flowing uphill, MPs from all parties have formed unofficial factions to vote on a range of amendments in an attempt to curtail the potential damages of Brexit for their constituents.
Brexit is the biggest political issue facing the UK in a generation, and it isn’t a matter of Left v Right.
The parties themselves may not want to admit it, or indeed be ready to, but the new Independent Group are correct in saying that Britain needs a “new politics”. What they don’t seem to be fully acknowledging, however, is that this new politics has been unveiling itself over the past few years. The Brexit referendum was not fought - or won - on party lines.
Not at all dissimilar to the pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty narrative that we are so familiar with in Ireland, “are you Leave or Remain?” has become the common refrain in British politics since 2016.
Another way of looking at Leave v Remain is along the lines of traditionalism (with its isolationist, localist approach to politics and economics) v cosmopolitanism (with followers embracing globalisation and progressivism). Which side of that particular fence a British voter falls on can easily reveal their referendum vote.
An independent group of eleven centrist MPs is unlikely to wield much influence, much less irrevocably redraw party lines at Westminster, but at a time when the Government regularly loses parliamentary votes yet somehow stays in power, stranger things have certainly happened. Britain could well see the beginning of a new party based on the Remainer Brexit position.
Of course, come a general election - and there always seems to be one of those looming in Britain these days - party politics will once again be king.
And with a First Past the Post electoral system, this is unlikely to change any time soon. No new, small party can expect to make any significant headway without proportional representation. But with politics in Britain evolving faster than the system to fit it, perhaps it won’t be long before we see a true shift from Left v Right.
A political future based on a generation- and nation-defining issue, with parties drawn along the lines of where MPs and voters stand on a question of significant national interest.
Perhaps future generations will ask each other, “were your grandparents pro-Brexit or anti-Brexit?”
Maybe then Irish politics won’t be so difficult to understand.
If you would like to have your say on the issue of the day then visit here or send your submission to digitaldesk@examiner.ie.
