A lot of time is being spent worrying about the question of holding European parliamentary elections. Some of it is around the question of what does it say to be holding such elections three years after Britain voted narrowly to leave the EU; some of it is around the idea that it would lead to a load of Farage's being sent as MEP's to the European Parliament. It's clear that Britain should hold the EP elections, however, for several reasons.
Firstly, it's clear that Britain is not leaving the EU by 29th March, and almost certainly not by 12th April either. If the forces of reaction are defeated, the UK will not be leaving at all, in which case, it will be necessary that we have elected MEP's to represent us. The discussions in the European Parliament itself in recent days have been instructive.
Donald Tusk pointed out that the EU cannot ignore or abandon the 6 million people, and counting, who have signed the petition demanding that Article 50 be revoked, nor the 1 million plus people that marched last weekend demanding another referendum. He is right. For one thing, the EU should not ignore the people of Scotland, or Northern Ireland, nor Gibraltar that voted by a significant majority to Remain inside the EU. Indeed, the people of Gibraltar voted 9:1 in favour of remaining in the EU.
The EU has previously suggested that any British citizens who wished to acquire EU citizenship, as a protection against Brexit should be able to do so. That is something which should be pursued. Indeed, its time that the EU itself automatically granted EU citizenship to every current citizen of the EU, as an alternative to, and in addition to being citizen's of any particular nation state. That is the necessary corollary of the right to free movement. Logically, it should mean that all those citizens are free to move from one part of the EU to another, with no diminution in the rights, which would also mean that things such as their accumulated entitlements to pensions, healthcare, unemployment benefits and so on are transported along with them, when they move from one part of the EU to another. That right should continue to be extended to each citizen, whether their nation state decides to leave the EU or not. The logical conclusion of that, of course, is that the issue of payment of pensions and other welfare benefits should be one that is determined by the EU itself, and paid for from the EU budget, not from the budgets of nation states, with the EU collecting taxes to cover this expense accordingly.
In the same way that British citizens living outside the UK, get to vote in UK elections, and the same is true, say for US citizen's living in Britain, who continue to vote in US elections, so, if UK citizens, continued to have EU citizenship, they should continue to have the right to vote in EU elections, even if Britain were to leave the EU. It would be for the EU to organise the basis of such elections, for its citizens living in the UK. But, its quite clear that, for example, in Scotland, where the Scottish Parliament supports continued membership of the EU, the Scottish parliament itself might facilitate the EU in organising such elections. That would only be like Gibraltar facilitating the votes of UK citizens living there, in UK parliamentary elections. Indeed, its foreseeable, that whether or not Scotland voted for independence, the EU might allocate specific Scottish seats in the European Parliament, reflecting the votes of EU citizens in Scotland. The same could apply to Wales, and in those large Metropolitan areas where the support for EU membership is dominant, such as London, Manchester, Liverpool etc. some similar arrangement could be arrived at. It might be that the MEP's from these UK constituencies, might not be able to vote on all issues, for example, on financial matters, but, on the other hand, it might also be possible for these UK constituencies to pay themselves into the EU budget, so as to be able to obtain the relevant rights and privileges.
But, even without that its necessary for the UK to participate in the EP elections, because, its likely that the actual fate of Brexit will not be known until after those elections take place. Its not conceivable that, in the end, Britain will scrap Brexit, but did not then have MEP's. The argument that these elections cannot be held because, Britain voted, in 2016, to leave the EU, cannot hold, because, despite that vote, Britain still has not left. The idea that Leave voters are going to rise up in revolt at having such elections is simply scaremongering. We have continually been told that they are going to rise up in revolt due to the delay in Brexit, but no such revolt is even close to being seen. UKIP has collapsed, and whilst more than a million marched to stop Brexit, only a few dozen have marched to insist on it happening; more than 6 million have signed the petition demanding that Article 50 be revoked, only a few hundred thousand have signed a petition demanding that Brexit be implemented.
The true nature of the potential for revolt is the fact that Farage has effectively disappeared up his own backside, despite all of the free publicity provided to him, and his entourage by the Tory media. As Guy Verhofstadt put it directly to Farage in the European Parliament "Why are you here. I though you were supposed to be marching. Of the 200 miles march, how much did you actually march, 2 miles?" And, that reflects the nature of the forces standing behind Brexit. All mouth and no trousers, except for a tiny hardcore of fascists.
The truth is, as I wrote several years ago, the likes of UKIP, and the BNP only managed to get any of their candidates elected in conditions where there were low polls. In the EP elections with turnouts of only around 20%, plus the fact of the use of proportional representation, it meant that these fringe groups could get candidates elected, even though their support in absolute terms was low, and concentrated in specific areas. The same was true of their success in getting local councillors elected. As soon as it came to a General Election, it became apparent that their actual share of the total vote was only around 5%, meaning they got no candidates elected, and where local elections were held on the same day as a General Election, the same thing happened, as the larger turnout meant that the fringe elements lost any of the seats they had previously won.
As I also wrote several years ago, this fact is a result of there always being a core vote of around 30% of the population, who are bigots. Mostly, those bigots are coterminous with Tory voters, or those to their right, or with those that generally do not vote. The fact that around 35% of Leave voters say that if Brexit goes ahead they will not vote again, therefore, should not cause any great consternation, because even in General Elections, there is always around 30% of the population who do not bother to vote. The support for UKIP and the BNP, as with the vote for Brexit, was simply a reflection of this phenomenon, that in a restricted poll, the forces of reaction were able to mobilise this core vote of bigots.
What the EU referendum has done is to take an issue that was only of great significance to a small minority, and to make it into the sole determining issue of the day. Prior to the EU referendum, the EU ranked only around 7th or 8th on most people's order of concerns, below things like the NHS, wages, jobs, crime and so on. The same was true of immigration. So, even for those that held bigoted views on the EU, foreigners, and immigration, in General Elections, it was outweighed by these other more important concerns. Now, that has all changed. As I reported recently, the majority of people today identify themselves as either a Remainer or a Leaver, rather than as Labour or Tory. It is this question that is determinant above all others, if and when a General Election is held, which is why Labour's continued adherence to the reactionary idea of supporting some form of impossible "Jobs First Brexit", is unfathomable, given that more than 70% of Labour voters identify themselves as Remainers!
The truth is that if European Parliament elections are held, those opposing Brexit will sweep the board. Its inconceivable that in the charged atmosphere, and with the supporters of Remain having the wind in their sails, there will not this time be large turnouts in these elections, and it will be those opposing Brexit that will be in the majority, sweeping away the Farage's and the like. It will be a further indication of the fact that, a clear majority in Britain today, back Remain, and they are mobilised to stop Brexit. If Labour were to do he decent, principled thing, and its leadership throw its weight behind that movement, not only could the Brexit madness be stopped, but Labour would put itself in a commanding position for control not of the majority of British MEP's, but to win a General Election too.
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