I’m going to be @cynicaloldgit here and quote his maxim, “people are fuckwits”.
Public perception does not equal to reality. And unfortunately, while I do agree that politics is very much about the reconciliation of sentiments between people who disagree, policies are also very much about facts. Unfortunately for many conservatives (and the lunatics who are still purist Marxists in this day and age), facts don’t care for your feelings.
It’s a reaction to the scale of the problems. What the Tories have done to the country is off the scale - the levels of naked corruption and profiteering haven’t been seen in this country for a very long time. It’s going to take longer than a term to put things back on an even keel. The country is thoroughly broken.
But we have to accept that we’re not getting back to the nineties or early 2000s levels of prosperity. Ever. Because that’s what we voted for. We voted to make ourselves 100bn a year poorer when we ‘exercised our democratic right to take control of our blah blah blah…’ There is nothing any party can do to negate the effects of Brexit. Labour can’t be blamed for the reality of that Tory misadventure.
Absolutely no one has said that. They should of course be held accountable for their actions (or non actions) - but it has to be based on fact and acknowedging the circumstancea at the time.
Except when it was a labour government that promised the nation a referendum on EU membership, and then went back on their word.
I presume you’re talking about this: United Kingdom European Constitution referendum - Wikipedia?
If so, it seems it was never held because the question became moot. It was never a referendum on membership.
The only other reference to such a promise that I can find is the 1975 referendum that was actually held by the Wilson government.
Yes, that was precisely what I was talking about.
It became moot because the proposed constitution was abandoned, and superseded by the Treaty of Lisbon.
It was also never a referendum on membership.
It’s about 20% of total government spending, or 33% of its spending on public services, so i dont see anything anywhere near alarming here.
Following brexit we need probably more public sector workers not fewer.
Pay conditions for public sector employees has eroded significantly over the last 14 years and with a significant number coming up to retirement age, it is proving challenging for the public sector as it is to fill critical vacancies.
I completely agree about people being fuckwits and public perception does not equal to reality.
However, are policies about facts? Or merely inline with what the voters want?
Facts have no emotion, no opinion or bias. If they hurt someone’s feelings it is due to acceptance.
They campaigned and promised a referendum in the run up to the 97 election and the idea was that it was to see if we would join the single currency etc…again that never materialised either , but the belief was there was strong opposition to it and euro fanatic blair once in power dropped it, simply because the press had played it as a vote for staying in/out of Europe …you can interpret it whichever way you want , but the vast amount of people would have viewed it as a say on EU membership in any way , and the opportunity to say no to another lying government about forced union etc was a chance to bloody their nose, and Blair was worried about it so much he dropped (lied) etc.
Fancy that, dropping a referendum because the polling suggests that the answer was strongly in favour of one side no matter whatever scenario was spun, as acknowledged by the link in your next post.
What were they supposed to do, spend public money for a referendum that was only going to yield one result?
Your link suggests that it would have been a great opportunity to open the debate, noting that at one point, i.e. the most significant point, Europe was considered an important issue facing Britain by 43% of the population. Not so much that people favoured exiting the EU, just that it was considered an important issue.
By the way, just 24% of people now think that being out of the EU is a good idea: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/only-24-britons-think-country-should-be-outside-eu-report-finds-2024-06-12/
I can’t find any consistent (as in same methodology, same pollster) polling prior to 2010, but if I recall correctly, EU membership has always been a fringe (read <20%) concern for most people. It’s only an extremely vocal minority of Eurosceptics who keep banging on that drum.
The LSE article argues that in hindsight, it would have been a good idea to open the debate then, but I would say that if anything, it would have kept the UK in the EU for longer.
EDIT:
Also, you seem to substitute your own views for “the vast majority” of people. Without any polling done, I’m not sure you can make a definitive statement that way.
And New Labour weren’t really Labour.
How can a generalised question like this possibly be answered? There is a shortage of doctors, nurses, teachers etc. Which ‘public servants’ are you referring to?
Those ones, the ones I don’t like!
(No offence to you @redbj, I just couldn’t resist that)
I assume your post is tongue in cheek?
I suppose it is only the UK that is not experiencing the prosperity levels of the 90’s/2000’s. I noticed you said early 2000’s, so when did the Tories come into power? I’m sure the late 2000’s under a Labour Government involved a recession, where people were having their houses repossessed, etc?
Was Brexit solely a Tory misadventure?
They used it as part of their mandate to secure the election because there was a call for it amongst the public. So much so that when the referendum took place there was a narrow majority to leave. Im pretty sure that David Cameron, the PM at the time was pro-remain.
Unfortunately, your post, irrelevant of it being tongue in cheek or not, is part of the problem with our country. It is too easy for people to make excuses, blame someone else and that is a society problem not a Government problem.
Well they were the ones that put it in their manifesto and then pressed on with it when it was pretty obvious it was a completely idiotic venture. What’s their excuse? The big boys made me do it?
So if they put it in their manifesto and didn’t press on with it……
Except of course the Labour leader refused to campaign against Brexit and had voted against the EU every single opportunity he had. I do blame him and to a certain extent the party too. If he had actively campaigned I believe it would have made the difference. The truth is that the left wing cabal ruling the party were delighted with the outcome of the vote.
You mean because there was a political threat to the right of his party. Not to mention the role of UKIP as the most prominent protest vote, regardless of the actual policies they espoused.
The only time during which there was such a majority actually, and it took years of propaganda and falsehoods to make that happen for that brief moment.
In fact, at the moment of the 2015 elections, remain were leading in opinion polling. Note that at no point did either point of view command a majority in polling terms.
