Well what a surprise! Britain's borders are choked, as a result of Brexit. The Tories act as though its all something unexpected, rather than the inevitable result of the crazy Brexit nonsense they have been pushing for the last few years, just like they acted as though the problems caused on the Northern Ireland border had not been explained to them at the time they were promoting Brexit. But, this is only the foothills of the chaos that Brexit is going to continue to impose on Britain's borders, not to mention the snowballing economic damage that will result from it. The queues and delays are just the start and the outward manifestation of all of the costs, delays, inconvenience, and other damage that a stupid policy will continue to inflict on Britain.
The whole point of Brexit was to establish borders where none previously existed, to separate off island Britain from the European mainland, and, thereby, to make transit between the two more difficult. It imposed restrictions, delays, checks and other frictions where none had previously existed for more than 40 years. The Tories and other proponents of Brexit pretended that all of that could be done with no costs or inconveniences to Britons. It was an obvious lie, but as with others of Boris Johnson's lies they got away with it. In part, they got away with it, because the Labour Party itself was arguing that there could be some kind of “soft Brexit” or “Labour Brexit” in which Britain could have some kind of arrangement with the EU, in which it had all the benefits of membership, but without any of the costs and obligations. That was a lie too, and its one that Starmer's Blue Labour continue to peddle.
Anyone who took the trouble to think about it knew that this was impossible, and that its only con artists, who play on the greed of people who think they can get something for nothing, who peddle those kinds of schemes. Brexit's whole point, in putting borders and barriers around Britain, was to establish all of these protective walls for Britain, but by the same token put up even bigger protective walls around the EU, separating it from Britain. That is the nature of a border, it works both ways, and it isolates the small component, not the larger, and that is all the more the case when the smaller part is a small island like Britain stuck, off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean. It wasn't the EU that put up those barriers that isolates Britain, but Britain itself. That was the purpose of Brexit, and now Britain is starting to pay the cost of it. Its a cost that will continue to grow.
The government, of course, knew that Brexit would cause this chaos. That is why they undertook planning to set up huge lorry parks in Kent, and plans that effectively also require passes for traffic to get into Kent itself, to prevent it from drowning under a weight of incoming traffic that can't get out of it. So, now, not only does Brexit isolate Britain from its main trading partner, the EU, and main destination for most Briton's foreign holidays, not only has it isolated Northern Ireland from the rest of Britain, as a result of Boris's “oven ready” Brexit deals, and its Northern Ireland Protocol, but it has also led to Kent itself, being separated from the rest of Britain, as a result of the requirement for these passes. That is on top of the effect of breaking up Britain, as Scotland seeks to escape Britain, in order to re-join the EU, and Northern Ireland is being drawn ever closer to the Irish Republic, and a Border Poll, to unify the island.
But, as with the Northern Ireland border, the government lied about the problems and chaos that would ensue, in order to push through its Brexit madness, to assuage the interests of several million jingoistic petty-bourgeois and other reactionaries that form its core membership and support. Now, in order to try to whip up that nationalistic sentiment once more, instead of accepting responsibility themselves, they want to blame France. That is, of course, ridiculous. The Tories are saying that to reduce the chaos at Dover, France should bail out Britain by employing more border control staff! But, the additional red tape at Dover is not a product of France and the EU, it is a direct consequence of Brexit, a consequence the Tories knew full well would result when they pushed for it. The checks and so on, now required at Dover, or other British ports and airports, are a consequence of Brexit, because, with Britain outside the EU, it has become a third country, like the US or Australia. Its not up to France to bail-out Britain for the additional costs and delays that Britain has inflicted on itself by Brexit!
And, those delays are nothing compared to those coming. Later this year, Britain is introducing a new system, in which people need to be fingerprinted and provide other biometric data. If you think having your passport stamped now is an imposition, wait until you have to get out of your car, or wait in queues at the airport, and so on, to have your fingerprints taken, and all of your biometric details checked!
Britain's demand that France bail it out from the consequences of Brexit, by employing more border staff, is all the more ludicrous given that, more than a year and a half after the Tories claimed to have “got Brexit Done”, they still have not employed the staff required to undertake its own checks of goods coming into Britain, and have completely failed to put in place either the staff or the infrastructure required in Northern Ireland to check goods coming from the mainland. The Tories and DUP complain about the delays and so on for goods entering Northern Ireland, as a result of Boris's “oven ready deal”, and its Protocol, but those delays are not just a direct result of Brexit, and that deal, but also of the Tories and DUP failure to put in place the staff and infrastructure required for those checks!
This chaos is going to get worse and worse, and Labour should be hammering the Tories over it, day in day out, but, of course, they can't, because they, now, own Brexit as much as do the Tories. Starmer's Blue Labour has become as big a proponent of Brexit as Boris Johnson, and with all of the same lies and deception that goes with it. Indeed, Starmer, and Blue Labour has been characterised only by egging on the Tories to an even faster implementation of that Brexit madness, just as they urged an even more insane application of the lockdowns that have decimated output, created huge supply bottlenecks and frictions, as well as requiring huge amounts of debt, and money printing to finance it that has led to the huge levels of inflation that are now damaging workers' living standards.
Labour is lucky that, currently, although the Liberals and Greens still oppose Brexit, and argue for re-joining the EU, they have not been shouting about it, as they have been able to focus on the travails of Boris Johnson. But, a look at the performance of the SNP against Labour, or of Sinn Fein and the Alliance in Northern Ireland, shows that any parties that offer a clear progressive line on Brexit can rally votes around them. The performance of the Liberals, in recent by-elections and the local elections, even without shouting about their pro-Europe position, have massively outperformed a Blue Labour that has sunk into jingoism and reactionary nationalism. Labour can hardly, now, ditch its reactionary nationalism, and pro-Brexit stance without looking even more lying and duplicitous than it already does, as a result of Starmer's lies to get himself elected Leader. But, its attempts to justify its reactionary Brexit stance also just make it look ridiculous and duplicitous too.
Labour could go full Moseley and take its reactionary stance to its logical conclusion, as Labour Minister, Oswald Moseley did, in the 1930's, when he set up the New Party. They could argue that Britain should be more effectively isolated from Europe, a clear and rational Brexit. There are undoubtedly some that would go along with that, including all of those Labour MP's that were part of the Leave campaign, and wanted such a hard Brexit. But, they will not do that, because they know it would be suicidal. So, they are left arguing a half way house position that is completely untenable, and worse than that of the Tories. They are left scrabbling for the same pool of reactionary, petty-bourgeois votes that the Tories have already, largely, sown up. It means that they will attack the Tories on questions of competence and management not matters of politics and principle. In other words a continuation of the same non-political politics they have pursued over the last two and a half years, with abysmal results. It means they can offer no real political solutions to the chaos and damage that Brexit is going to continue to inflict, as its effects continue to mount.
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