Dear Sir Keir
As the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition predicted by all the polls to be pretty much a shoo-in for our next government, the question that looms larger and ever larger is – WHY?
Why the terror of recognising and naming the gigantic elephant in the room? Why the refusal to let the very word ’Brexit’ pass your lips if you can avoid it? Why did Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves swerve away from making anything other than a passing mention of the massive economic damage that leaving the EU has inflicted on this country in her recent showcase Mais speech?
Almost every reputable economist now recognises that your Shadow Chancellor’s mantra of ‘growth’ can only be achieved through a far closer relationship with our nearest trading partner, and that almost certainly means negotiating to rejoin the EU customs union.
Public mood clearly changing even in Brexit heartlands
If my recent experience with one small group on the south coast is anything to go by, you are massively underestimating the opportunity that you have to really lead and to shape a public opinion that is already swinging against the result of the 2016 referendum.
Saturday 23 March was National Rejoin Day, and pro-EU groups around the country organised street stalls and events to publicise the day. Many were out on the streets for the first time since Covid. That certainly applied to EUnitySeahaven, a small group of activists on the south coast that I belong to, who campaigned to remain in the EU both before and after the 2016 referendum vote.
Photo by Jannes Van den wouwer on Unsplash.
EUnitySeahaven has a long history of running stalls in Seaford, campaigning firstly for the Remain cause and then for the People’s Vote movement after the referendum result. It was often tough. We were sometimes abused, spat at, and had our banners wrenched away from us and broken. We were left in no doubt at that time that there was a strong pro-Brexit feeling in the town. So I and my fellow EUnitySeahaven members manning the street stall were braced for a similar reaction in 2024.
We were amazed to be met with a sea-change in attitude. I couldn’t believe how many people wanted to talk to us about their anger at the damage that Brexit has wrought, and how many were keen to add their comments to the ‘vox pop’ survey that we had set up on a flipchart. We invited people to give their views on what has been gained and lost since we left the EU. Unlike our previous experience, not one person wanted to contribute a pro-Brexit comment.
From fury to anger
People were queueing up to engage us in conversation about their fury with the politicians who they felt had messed up the future of the UK. (David Cameron came in for a lot of stick for calling the referendum in the first place).
The responses to the flipchart question ‘What has been gained from leaving the EU?’ are mostly unprintable here, but the milder ones included ‘absolutely nothing’- with many much ruder versions of the same sentiment – ‘divided country’, ‘massive roaming charges’ and ‘longer waiting lists for GP and hospital appointments’.
A colourful snowstorm of post-it notes adorned the ‘What has been lost?’ column. Comments included: ‘lost 15% of my business instantly’, ‘international standing’, ‘humanity’, ‘funding’, ‘sense of belonging’, ‘freedom of movement’, ‘dignity and respect’, ‘our future’, ‘rights for all’, ‘finances down the pan’ ‘products gone up’ and ‘skilled workers from Europe. We don’t have enough care workers, nor agricultural workers’.
The experience of EUnitySeahaven seems to have been replicated across the country, where groups from York to Guildford reported an entirely different public mood. Yes, there was anger and disillusion but, unlike our previous experience, it was not directed at pro-EU groups but at the disaster of the whole Brexit project and those who led it.
People want leadership
Apart from David Cameron’s, the politician’s name that was most frequently mentioned at our Seaford stall was yours, Sir Keir. And not in a positive light. One repentant ‘Lexiter’ was beside himself with frustration at what he perceived to be your reluctance to lead on the issue of Brexit, and to be honest with the public. He told us:
“The right-wing press are never going to let him [Starmer] off the hook, so why doesn’t he just put up two fingers to the Conservative media and tell the public what the real damage has and will be? He needs to stop this absurd omertà which is completely undermining any case that he and Rachel Reeves might be trying to make for their growth strategy. Everyone knows that growth will only come if we get back in the customs union. The world will then really believe that we’ve grown up and become adults again.”
With opinion polls showing that a clear majority of the public now think that Brexit was a mistake, you are facing an open door. Of course, there will always be groups who are deeply anti-EU, whatever evidence is presented to them. But your role as leader of the Opposition and very possibly our next Prime Minister is to do what it says on the tin. Lead.
So I return to my original question – WHY? Many of us live in hope of receiving a convincing answer.
