The Case for an early General Election in the United Kingdom
There’s a petition on the UK Government and Parliament Petitions site calling for a “Vote on an early General Election before sending Article 50”. I had submitted a similar petition as well, but this was approved first. I’d like to expand on my reasons for backing this petition. The petition itself is here.
On the 23rd of July the United Kingdom made a historic decision in a national referendum. A 52% majority of those who voted voted to leave the European Union. The next day David Cameron announced his intention to resign as leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This triggered a leadership contest within the Conservative party, and the successful candidate will become Prime Minister.
I do not believe this Prime Minister will have any electoral mandate to negotiate the terms of our departure from the European Union, and call on her and all other Members of Parliament to put their plans to the country in a General Election.
No Mandate From Referendum
There have been claims from some that there is a clear mandate from the European Union Referendum on the terms of the negotiation. The problem is that these have not been consistent. Some have said the mandate is to immediately leave the EU whatever the consquences, some have said the mandate is to limit all free movement from the EU, some have said voting leave was a way to stay in a reformed EU, some have said the mandate is purely advisory and everything is up for grabs, some have said a Leave vote still leaves questions as to whether we trigger Article 50, some have said the mandate is to remove half or more of EU related rules and regulations from the UK statute book, some have said the mandate is to negotiate the best trade deal with the EU, some have argued that 52–48 needs a second referendum, some have said the mandate is not to accept membership of the European Economic Area, some have said the mandate is partly to join the European Economic Area.
I have friends who voted Leave to avoid the TTIP treaty between the US and EU affecting us, I have others who voted Leave to make it easier for us to secure similar free trade deals. Some friends voted Leave because they felt the EU is too business friendly, others voted Leave because they felt there was too much regulation impacting on business. I heard reasons to do with MIFID 2, or letting the fishing fleet fish without quotas. How is it possible to claim a mandate which satisfies all of these views?
The simple fact is that the referendum only asked one question — “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” Any claim beyond that is just magical thinking.
No Mandate From General Election
The other point to address is the way our government works in normal times — the MPs are elected on the basis of their manifesto, the leader of the largest party is the Prime Minister, and a change of leader does not automatically trigger a General Election. There are two issues with claiming a mandate from the 2015 General Election.
First we have the fact that we are not in normal times. We are about to have to negotiate the largest change to our external relations, internal laws, rights and regulations in recent history. The 2015 manifesto was written on the basis of Britain in the European Union, and the referendum result has undermined a large amount of these. If any situation calls for a fresh endorsement of policies, then it is this one.
Second we have the different positions taken by the candidates. If the argument is that the winner of the Conservative leadership contest retains a mandate from the British people due to the 2015 election victory, there should be no differences between each of their positions, or the 2015 Conservative manifesto. We have seen gaps emerging in newspaper articles and interviews (as the candidates do not seem to have position websites). There are promises to spend £100m a week on the NHS from Michael Gove (rather than the £350m he suggested during the referendum), plans to borrow £100bn for a “Growing Britain Fund” from Stephen Crabb, the suggestion to increase the size of the Royal Navy at the expense of people’s benefits from the disgraced former defence secretary Liam Fox, a complete reversal of Osborne’s fiscal austerity from Andrea Leadsome, descriptions of both stopping free movement and maintaining the City’s access to the Single Market as ‘red lines’ in negotiations. If the mandate from 2015 remains, their policy positions should be consistent. The fact that they aren’t points to the mandate no longer being followed.
The Argument For An Election
A lot of talk in the press and the Leave campaign has characterised the EU referendum as being about “taking back control” from the European Union. The same argument can be made with much more conviction in this situation — it simply is not right for a decision with this impact to be made purely by the 150,000 members of the Conservative Party.
This is why I ask you to call on Parliament to vote on an early General Election before sending Article 50. Please, sign that petition, contact your MP. Ask them where the mandate for negotiations comes from, ask them exactly what detail the government will aim for in negotiations.
