The triggering of article 50 looms. Like a giant crack across the face of a dam awaiting that final gentle poke necessary to flood doom upon all those in it’s way. By this time tomorrow, article 50 will have been triggered and the Brexit bus will be set on it’s course towards the edge of the cliff.
It’s pretty clear that Theresa May wants a hard Brexit, free from the single market, free from the customs union. Lots has been focused on how the government wants to turn Britain into a tax haven 30km off the coast of Europe. A bargain basement sweatshop, free of those shackles of employee rights. Many have asked why? Asked where the mandate for this comes from. After all none of this was on the side of the bus.
After much thinking and discussing with others, I think I’ve come to a conclusion on her reasoning. Human rights.
A condition of pretty much any involvement with the European Union is signing the European Convention on Human Rights. If you read the daily mail, then you’ll know this as the legislation that protects terrorists and ne’er-do-wells. If you have an actual understanding of the law, you’ll know it as the law that protects us from the government.
Theresa May has spoken out against the ECHR especially when she was home secretary when a succession of court rulings stopped her from being a tyrant.
If we have a hard Brexit, Britain can repeal the Human Rights Act. Proponents of this say they will replace it with a British bill of rights. Thing is, we already have one. The 1689 bill of rights. One of three documents that form the basis of the British constitution (the other two being Magna Carta, and the Crown and Parliament Recognition Act 1689). Theresa May wants to replace our human rights legislation with something that can be revoked by a simple majority in Parliament. A majority of MPs that were elected with just 37% of the vote. This is the first step towards the slippery edge of the pit. The first step towards totalitarianism. And that is terrifying.