Dilute Brexit, if not even EU accession. The Labor Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, demanded it bluntly, breaking the cautious front in his own party, which as the first prominent British figure with a role of power at the national level, went so far in the wake of signals for rethinking – or at least perplexity – which continues to emerge from UK public opinion: in the grip of increasingly widespread discontent with a crisis largely linked to global factors but, in the eyes of many across the Channel, is being exacerbated by the backlash of farewell to the EU.
Khan’s open attack, the first mayor with Pakistani and Muslim roots in the history of the UK capital, comes as a surprise to a point, considering his reference constituency is that of London: a cosmopolitan metropolis with a liberal prevalence and always anti-Brexiteer , in many interests had felt threatened by the rift from the start. And he specifically addresses the “hard” version that recent Conservative governments have imposed on the kingdom after “Leave”’s controversial victory in the 2016 referendum.
The occasion was a public intervention in which the mayor – two years after the divorce from Brussels finally came into effect – has targeted the Tories, accusing them of causing “immense damage” to the country. But he also indirectly criticized the neo-moderate Labor leader Keir Starmer and at least provoked a rethink in favor of a softer Brexit: perhaps with a re-entry (from outside) into the single market and the European customs union. Perspectives which Sir Keir instead recently clearly ruled out, promising not to reopen a ‘closed’ debate lest we rekindle the divisions of the past. And he confines himself to saying that if he becomes Prime Minister he wants to “make Brexit work” through a generally better relationship with the Club of 27.
Khan doesn’t come forward and says Brexit isn’t working. “After two years of denial and escapism – he replies – we must face the hard truth of the facts: Brexit is not working. He has weakened our economy, disrupted internal unity (among the nations of the Kingdom) and belittled our reputation”. Something which, according to him, can only be “cured” on condition of “reestablishing greater alignment with our European neighbours, to move from this hard and extreme Brexit to a manageable version that benefits our economy and our people’: a turning point that should include ‘a pragmatic debate on the benefits of the single market and the customs union’.
In addition, the polls show growing disappointment among His Majesty’s subjects at the results and failed promises of separation. According to a recent survey, a relative majority of voters in favor of a divorce in 2016 shared the mood during this time of crisis. And for which some media and analysts have already coined a neologism, “Bregret”, an artificial word between Brexit and regret: what in English “repentance” means.
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