Recently, talk of division in the major political parties continues to polarise public discourse. As Conservative policy reaches out its arm to the EU in a bid to represent the results of the 2016 Referendum fairly (48/52), Labour remains ambivalent about the prospect of a second referendum. No doubt, the big European question leads contemporary debate, to such an extent there’s rumor political identity no longer relates to ideological conviction but Leave/Remain tribalism. Fair play: some have had the courage to change their mind, from whatever side, to say they didn’t have the full picture when voting; but the breaking line between Labour and Conservative is slowly but surely fading. So, then: what comes of the Liberal Democrats, the electoral minority and spare, but very much necessary limb in 2019 British parliament? Some might argue the situation’s pretty precarious, others might put it to FPTP. However you see it, the Lib Dems seemed to have survived the thwarting of Brexit, as other major parties undergo something of a political existential crisis.
Historically, the Lib Dems have stood on a pro-European platform, advocating national access to the formerly known Common Market since our entry in 1975. They have reiterated its benefits, stating lower food and living costs help the lowest earners in society; characterising European membership with socially progressive ideals. In short, Europe’s set the precedent for much of British Liberalism’s most recent attempts to equalise the playing field in society, with respects to jobs and national insurance systems, to the whole hog: social reform. They have wanted to create a moderate mixed social economy within a liberal capitalist society which accepts the benefits of free markets but reasoned, regulated state controls. Europe has changed the face of liberals’ identification with the nation with strict respects to its differences over socialism. Why, because European policy orientates itself around centrist politics, christian and social democratic values, be it with the European parliament’s two largest groupings based on these ideologies. One can only imagine what June 2016 felt like for such hopes.
Hard line ‘Brexiteers’ argue the result of the referendum brings opportunities for the UK post-Brexit. Arguments around sovereignty hark, the buzzword for what liberals otherwise deem nationalism. In such a political vacuum, ranged between so-called sovereignty and European membership, where does centrist politics go next? The solution is as much prescient as the question: we have a whole country looking – desperately – for something new to talk about, debate, converse politics. Brexiteers stand at the right, Remainers to the left of us; what ever of centrists? The resolve doesn’t seem to return to representative democracy, pragmatism in a word; where such a divisive result of 48/52 ought to reflect future policy. No, instead we have absolutists on either side demanding the hearing ground. In all fairness, Remainers have the stronger argument: we didn’t after all have the full picture during the referendum, nor did we fathom the division such a pretty much 50/50 result would incur. The wound is unhealed, even for Brexiteers: never has British politics seen such a response to a single referendum in history. 2016 saw the largest electorate ever, recorded. Talk about existential.
So, what of centrists? In the context of Brexit, this faction of policy remains virtually boxed in by either side. For certainty to prevail I guess what does remain clear is that politics plays the game of absolutism, because that’s what it’s always done; and in the case of Brexit, it’s either Remain or Leave. But if anything is clear from the last two years it is that the result of the referendum was not directive, as in leave meant Leave. No, the vote to Leave was a plea to the resolution of much more holistic, complex problems in society. The vote to Leave the European Union was, in a sense at least, a punching bag for long suppressed, unresolved injustices, from economics to marginalised groups in society more broadly. Perhaps the Liberal Democrats, as centrists, will never quite heal the wound with its pragmatic band aid, but lessons are clear and that’s for sure. The vote to Br-exit wasn’t what we thought it was, and upon even closer inspection would leave any party at a loss – centrist or not. The problem was not with the answer, but the question asked in the first place: Yes or No? We wanted absolutism from the beginning, oversimplification to answer complexity; a healthier society for, well, what has now reduced to: tribalism.
The Reformist 