The hidden Brexit consultation

Lovable scamps. Cheeky rogues. Political mavericks. They took on the establishment, at home and abroad, and they won. That’s how Brexiteers like Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, and David Davis would like us to see them.

Now, at the heart of Government, it is their responsibility to deliver upon the promise of Brexit.

We can see, though, that the Brexiteers are already out of touch, not just with the people who voted to leave, but also with those who they are now consulting with about the best way to make Brexit happen.

The Department for Exiting the EU say that they are “consulting various stakeholders” about what kind of Brexit makes sense. The organisations named in this secretive and unannounced consultation include the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the City of London Corporation.

When asked before the referendum, the majority of the membership of those organisations did not believe that Brexit would be good for their companies.

Generally accepted is the narrative that distant London Metropolitan Elites were not paying attention to the rest of the UK. The distribution of the proceeds of 4 decades of growth within the EU were so disproportionately skewed for so long towards an elite class and the City generally, that the rest of the country revolted against the EU simply to be heard.

Johnson, Fox and Davis were, apparently, the lightening rods through which the disaffection and outrage of a despairing working class was conducted following years of imposed austerity and growing inequality.

Now the Brexiteers are Government ministers, being trusted to stand up for The Little Guy, and for each region of the UK, and every business that has suffocated under a constant and interminable flow of — so we were told — useless EU red tape.

Why is it, then, that the very first people they have called to have their say are the self-same representatives of the so-called Metropolitian Elite (experts!) that the Leave campaign was railing against mere months ago? London based organisations whose members thought that staying in the EU was for the best, are, right now, defining what Brexit should look like.

Why weren’t the opinions of UK farmers and fishermen first on the minds of the Brexiteers? Do business owners in Scotland have to say? Shouldn’t our manufacturers get a look in? Our scientists? What of the Council leaders in Wales and Cornwall — who benefited from EU grants and want some assurances that they won’t lose out on funding — shouldn’t David Davis be consulting with them on what Brexit means for their funding?

People not on the exclusive consultation invite list have to send letters, start petitions, or crowd source a legal case to be heard now. This seems a lot like what they had to do before the Brexiteers took charge.

The most powerful signal being sent from a large proportion of the UK was “stop ignoring us”. This is something that both Leave and Remain campaigners can surely agree on. However, far from learning from past mistakes, the Brexiteers have, quite literally, carried on with business as usual.

If there is to be a consultation, why should it be invite only? Having voted against backroom deals Leave campaigners — and the general population — are now being explicitly locked out from discussions on what leave should actually mean.

Is this what the country voted for? Is this taking back control?

Everything has changed. And yet, it is all so reassuringly familiar.