Of all the dangerous, anti-democratic pieces of legislation brought forward by our government since Brexit, one of the most controversial is the retained EU law (revocation and reform bill (REUL). Better known as the Brexit freedoms bill, the supposed freedoms the bill claims to proffer seem as elusive as any so-called Brexit benefit.

Brexit freedoms bill

The bill was introduced by former prime minister Liz Truss, during her brief stint in Number 10. It is sponsored by staunch Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and is currently making its way through the House of Commons.

So much at stake

The aim of the REUL bill is to replace almost 4,000 EU laws currently on the British statute books. These laws provide protection for a wide range of hard-won protections including workers’ rights, food safety standards, animal welfare, environmental protections and many more.

Although the government has pledged not to lower standards in the process of revoking and reforming EU law, it’s increasingly hard to find anyone who takes that promise at face value. Especially when so many Brexit promises have already proven worthless.

According to the REUL public dashboard, 570 of the EU laws relate to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; 424 to Transport; 374 to the Treasury; 318 to BEIS; 228 to Revenue and Customs and 208 to Work and Pensions. That’s assuming, of course, that these government figures are reliable.

Up until the beginning of November, only 2,400 EU laws had been identified. A further 1,400 laws were recently discovered by government researchers. Although according to Rees-Mogg the additional laws were “ones departments do not use and were dredged up” and, he added, “removing them is simple”.

In his own BEIS department, 77 full-time staff are said to be working on the 318 laws relating to that department alone. Whether the wider government has enough civil servants to handle so many EU laws is another unanswered question.

We need to organise to stop the insanely dangerous Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

That this govt would open up this country to such dangers should see them chased out of office! https://t.co/8YQTtPsezY

— Liz Webster (@LizWebsterLD) December 5, 2022

Businesses already struggling

In a recent survey of company directors by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) there was little understanding of the government’s proposals. Half of those surveyed said deregulation was either a low or non-existent priority, and just 4% claimed to comprehensively understand the bill and its impact on their business.

According to William Bain, head of trade policy at BCC, businesses “are not clamouring for a bonfire of regulations for the sake of it”. He warned that divergence from EU regulations “would add to company costs” at a time when businesses were “already struggling with soaring inflation and other barriers to trade with the EU”.

The fact that businesses are largely critical of the bill is being ignored by government. The party that used to claim to be the defenders of business and the economy, no longer seem to be claiming to protect either. The Tory party are no longer listening. Except to themselves.

World-leading idiocy:

“As part of the Retained EU Law Bill, the UK government is risking scrapping over a thousand laws that protect the environment, including those which protect wild places and wildlife, and ensure minimum standards for water quality and pollution.”

— The Purple Pimpernel (@Eyeswideopen69) December 1, 2022

So much for health and safety

The latest strong criticism came from the British Safety Council. Chief executive Mike Robinson recently wrote that the government seemed “hell-bent” on destroying the UK’s record on health and safety.

While acknowledging there are areas where legislation could be improved, Robinson said there were “big risks involved” with the government’s approach. He drew particular attention to high-risk industries, like construction and chemicals. He expressed concern over the potential replacement of existing protections and with responsibilities being imposed on “duty-holders”. He asked, “are we really going to leave it up to individual businesses to decide for themselves?” I guess that’s one way to interpret “taking back control”.

Robinson stated that the bill must be “changed or scrapped on the basis that it would be too damaging and risky to go ahead”

Not fit for purpose

The bill also gives the government the power to simply ‘switch off’ EU laws at the end of 2023 without consultation with parliament or the public. The so-called ‘sunset clause’ means that any EU legislation still on the books at the end of next year will simply expire. Along with all the protections, rights and standards that any such laws sought to safeguard.

The government’s own independent assessor described government proposals as “not fit for purpose”. With regard to the sunset clause in particular, the watchdog said the government had not provided sufficient grounds for the decision.

The battle isn’t over

Although the REUL bill may have already passed the second reading in the House of Commons, its further passage is not expected to go smoothly. Many amendments are in the pipeline and there is likely to be fierce debate in the House of Lords.

But the battle won’t just take place in the halls of parliament. Opposition is widespread with so many industries and sectors affected. From legal experts to unions, from environmentalists to farmers, from business leaders to economists, from human rights activists to health professionals – the opposition is as far-reaching as the rights that the EU laws protect.

Whether your personal passion is for one affected area – nature, animal welfare, food safety, human rights – or for all of them, this bill is damaging and dangerous. And completely unnecessary. The rights we have to work fewer hours, to eat safe food, to treat animals and the environment with respect and care etc., took many years to agree and to protect by law. We cannot allow this irresponsible government, driven solely by ideology, to undo all that work in one fell swoop.

If the government is successful, we will all pay a terrible price. And it’s one that neither the public, nor the country can afford. EU law is not bad for our health and safety. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our government.

Dear Prime Minister,

Firstly, my apologies for not writing to you before to congratulate you on your new job. I just thought I’d better hang on for a few weeks to make sure your premiership had a longer shelf-life than your predecessor’s. So, having waited a month, big congrats! Even if you don’t last past the next election, as least you’ll have beaten Dizzy Lizzie’s short spell in office.

I appreciate you must have a great deal on your plate (what multi-millionaire doesn’t?) and that the job is probably a lot more difficult and demanding than you anticipated. Despite that, I hope you think it was worth any sacrifices you may have made. At least your wife hasn’t had to make any, and can always keep you in the style you’ve become accustomed to, no matter what happens in your political career.

With so much going wrong in the country it must be tough to choose where to focus or prioritise your attention and our money. Especially when you have those to the left of you, those to the right of you, and (if there are any) those to the far right of you telling what you absolutely must do, and right now!

Just this week alone I note that you have described relations with China as the end of a “golden era”. Relations with the USA also seem strained, though I’m pleased to see that you and Ursula von der Leyen are making positive noises. Do you know what would really, really improve relations with the EU? Getting rid of that nasty piece of legislation, the Protocol Bill. Though I do appreciate, that with so many nasty pieces of legislation to choose from, it must be difficult to know which bill to ditch first. With so many of them liable to remove rights from the public but likely to give more powers to yourself. I imagine there will be many sleepless nights ahead while the Tory Party gremlins mess with your head.

As a former Chancellor, I had rather expected that you’d have a better understanding of how the UK economy works, or should work. I have to admit, I’m not a fan of ‘Austerity 2.0’, but then I wasn’t a fan of ‘Austerity 1.0’ either. I would be much more inclined to give it a chance if the government hadn’t wasted so much taxpayers’ money on failed PPE contracts, a failed Test & Trace system, a so-called Festival of Brexit, on MPs pay rises and expenses and goodness only knows what else. The very fact that you are now planning to use my/our money to pay for your Christmas parties is just adding insult to grievous injury. Couldn’t your wife treat you all? After all, I assume she’ll be present.

I would like to offer, though, credit where’s it’s due and say thank you for avoiding the annoying habit your two predecessors were so fond of. That of governing by slogan. I am not aware of any Sunak-specific soundbites. I assume that means that there aren’t any. The alternative – that they are so bad as to have gone unnoticed – is hardly preferable.

With regards to how I might be of assistance to you, I understand you are still looking (though perhaps not very hard) for an Ethics Advisor. Despite the downgrading of any powers for the title holder, I’m sure I could offer some interesting, even radical, ideas on the way forward, and frankly, I could use the money! My paltry pension, even with the triple lock retained (thank you kindly) does not stretch far when everything has gotten so much more expensive. Yes, I know, it’s Covid, it’s Ukraine. But, it’s also the dreaded Brexit. Now when even the BBC are discussing widespread Brexit damage, surely it’s time politicians, especially those at the top, did likewise.

The main opposition leader is seemingly trying to be more Brexity than your lot, believing it will win him the next election. With so many Remainer MPs now converts to the Brexit cult, wouldn’t it be novel if a few Brexiter MPs changed their minds too? Not sure I should be pointing this out to you but you could turn public opinion in your favour if you changed tack by promising a return to the Single Market, the Customs Union or, heaven forfend, the EU itself. Of course, you would have the tall order of convincing the country that Tory promises are worth the manifesto they are written on, but I honestly think it’s worth a shot. Beat the opposition to it and get that growing number of Remainers on your side for a change.

I will leave you to ponder how to turn around the fate of your party. I would just like to hope that in the process, you, your cabinet and your government give some thought to turning around the fate of the country. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but SS Britannia is sinking fast and there’s a distinct lack of friendly neighbours willing to rush to our aid. I wish you every success in turning the ship around, and in your goal of returning the Conservative Party to power at some distant decade in the future.

In the meantime, try not to do as much damage as the last three residents of Number 10 have done, and give the nurses, postal workers, train drivers etc. a pay rise. You may think the country can’t afford to do it. In fact, it can’t afford not to.

Yours sincerely,

Sue Wilson MBE

On Tuesday 29 November, the governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Andrew Bailey, gave evidence to the House of Lords economic affairs committee. The oral evidence session with the governor is an annual event and was expected to cover a number of topics, including quantitative easing, financial risks, inflation and the supply of labour, both historically and looking forward.

pic.twitter.com/xYlzQoSdBp

— Lords Economic Affairs Committee (@LordsEconCom) November 29, 2022

Unsurprisingly, there was little good news and lots of talk about the “scale of the external shocks that are hitting the economy”. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the list of factors affecting the UK economy did not include Brexit. In two hours of discussion and debate, not one single mention. From anyone.

Not a budget

While many factors, such as the war in Ukraine and the pandemic were external contributors to the current economic situation, there were domestic factors too. The most significant of these – if you ignore the government’s general mishandling of the economy, and of course, Brexit – was the disastrous autumn mini-budget.

When committee members referred to the statement as a budget, they were corrected by the governor. It was, in fact, a “fiscal event”, not a budget. Had it been a budget, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) – the official fiscal watchdog – would have had to be involved. By labelling the budget a fiscal event, the OBR was left out of the loop completely. Bailey added that the “message that came across”, was that “we didn’t want the OBR involved”.

“The lack of clarity between the former Prime Minister and Chancellor about what was actually going to be in the fiscal statement illustrates the problem. It was not known and it was not clear what was going to be in this statement.”

— Lords Economic Affairs Committee (@LordsEconCom) November 29, 2022

It would appear that the BoE, to a lesser extent, was also kept in the dark. When questioned about whether the bank had been fully informed in advance of the statement, and in particular, whether the bank had received “advance warning of… £46 billion of unfunded tax cuts”, Bailey responded, “we did not know what was going to be in the statement”.

Bailey said that while it was not always necessary to know all the “detailed measures” in advance, the bank would expect to be informed on “the economic impact” of any proposed policy. Many people had described the situation to him, he added, as “flying blind”. The BoE, for example, had had “no idea” that the government had plans to abolish the top rate of tax.

Bailey said there was no doubt in his mind “that Treasury officials told the BoE and me everything they knew”. There was no question of anything “being hidden”, he said. There was, however, a “lack of clarity”, even “between the former prime minister and the chancellor about what was going to be in the fiscal statement.” Which rather, Bailey said, “illustrates the problem”.

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the @bankofengland: “The scale of the external shocks that are hitting the economy and the effect they’re having are coming through as a very big shock to the UK’s real economy…” pic.twitter.com/GmxmDgoUpE

— Lords Economic Affairs Committee (@LordsEconCom) November 29, 2022

External shocks to the system

The governor spoke of the scale of the external factors affecting the economic outlook, describing them as a “very big shock to the UK’s real economy”. In particular, Bailey highlighted the scale of the shock from the energy crisis, which was seen as a “substantial risk” and which was “larger than any single year in the 1970”.

The governor spoke of what he regarded as the three biggest risks to the UK economy. The first of these – the energy price shock coming from Russia and Ukraine – he described as “reasonably stable” in terms of size and force. The second factor, and the earliest, was the post-Covid supply chain shock, which he said was “unwinding”. The third shock, which unlike the first two was heading “the other way”, was food, affected by both domestic and external factors.

The biggest story

According to Bailey, “the biggest story is the labour market”, which is “much more constrained” in Britain than elsewhere. Where other economies – such as the US or the Eurozone – had recovered to pre-Covid levels, the UK was lagging behind. However, Bailey claims that recruitment issues many companies have been facing are now gradually starting to ease with the ratio of vacancies to unemployment stabilising, albeit at a high level.

The BoE, said Bailey, has been saying for over a year that there was “a very big real income shock” coming and that the consequences of that blow need to be dealt with. It seemed to be widely accepted that this was due to a “change in the terms of trade”. The impact of the real income shock is one being felt by the public who, apparently, are failing to understand why they can’t be paid in line with inflation. The risk, said Bailey, is coming from second-hand effects – caused by “constraint in labour supply”, “wage-bargaining” and “price-setting” – which would require the BoE to further raise inflation.

Whatever our economic future holds, it seems clear that the British economy is not in a healthy state or, perhaps, in the safest of hands. While so many in Westminster fail to acknowledge a significant cause of our present economic situation, it’s difficult to see how our finances can or will improve.

During the course of the committee meeting, the governor at one point complained that “quite a bit of the commentary” regarding the British economy “pretends that Covid never happened”. That may well be the case. Yet the bank and the government continue to pretend that Brexit never happened. Thankfully, the public, and increasingly the press, are joining the dots. It would be helpful if those in charge of running the economy effectively did likewise.

Anyone following British politics over recent months and years will no doubt have questioned the reliability of many political statements. You may even have thought you were being lied to, or at the very least that some politicians – especially those supporting Brexit – were lying to themselves.

Whether Westminster rhetoric has caused you to despair or made you angry, it will likely have made you question the sanity of some MPs, some Cabinet Ministers, or even some political parties. The latest bordering-on-bonkers nonsense is unlikely to cause any change in that opinion.

Peter Bone wants to have a parliamentary debate entitled “Brexit; A Roaring Success”. Penny Mordaunt thinks he’s “absolutely right”.

It’s all a big joke to them. They’re laughing at the voters they misled. ~AA pic.twitter.com/obBFomHmLq

— Best for Britain (@BestForBritain) November 24, 2022

Brexit: A roaring success

If you are looking for fully-fledged governmental delusion, then right-wing Tory Brexit supporters are a good place to start. Stand up, former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and former advisory member of the Leave Means Leave board, Peter Bone.

The Member for Wellingborough has previously described government plans to introduce same-sex marriage as “completely nuts”; has voted to lower the time limit for abortions to 12 weeks; is in favour of the death penalty and conscription; is opposed to a national minimum wage and was described as Britain’s “meanest boss” by the Daily Mirror in 1995. So, not exactly what you might call a leftie, or even a centrist.

Bone’s latest daft idea – in the face of public opinion and ample evidence of Brexit damage – is a parliamentary debate led by the Chancellor. The title? “Brexit: a roaring success”. Now it’s entirely possible that Bone is deluded enough to believe Brexit has been a hit. It’s even possible that former PM candidate, Penny Mordaunt, really does believe that he’s ”absolutely right”. What isn’t credible is that they think the public, or perhaps even parliament, are on the same page. The Tories may see the funny side of Bone’s ‘joke’. Those suffering the effects of a Covid, Ukraine and, yes, Brexit induced cost-of-living crisis, may not.

Brexit isn’t failing

For more Brexiter nonsense, you rarely need to look any further than the Rt. Hon. Lord Frost of Allenton PC CMG. Senior Fellow of right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange. Frost is a former Brexit negotiator, former diplomat (yes, honestly), former Cabinet Minister (briefly) and former special advisor to Foreign Secretary as was, Boris Johnson. Oh, and former Remainer. Now a staunch Brexiter, Frost displays the zeal of a true convert.

Delusional statements on Brexit are not new from Frost, and he’s never been shy about imparting his bonkers brand of wisdom to anyone who will listen (mostly Telegraph readers). Often aiming his counsel at the PM and/or the government, he has always been keen to impart advice on how to manage (his version of) Brexit.

Back in April, Frost warned the government to “Beware” (the threat?) that “Remainers are regrouping”. Then in May, he was advocating for the scrapping of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the very same deal that he & Boris Johnson had negotiated. Under duress, it would seem, or at least not in good faith.

“Brexit isn’t failing”. He really is far gone. pic.twitter.com/0gwS51Dxrt

— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) November 25, 2022

Yet again, he is now warning that the enemies the government needs to watch out for are pro-Europeans. Remainers are, apparently, campaigning “to return the UK to the orbit of Brussels” but, are basing our plans on ”a fallacy”. According to Frost, “Brexit isn’t failing”. Or as Bone put it, Brexit is a “roaring success”.

I’m not sure where Frost gets his – for want of a better word – “intelligence” from, but it clearly isn’t from the OBR, the Bank of England or from anywhere but the most-right wing of media.

Losing their sanity

With the latest immigration figures disproving the Brexit myth of “taking back control of our borders”, the government desperately needed a new plan that would attempt to control numbers. Enter stage right Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak with the latest wild idea. A suggestion so inappropriate as to have had many – not least former Tory MP, David Gauke – questioning the sanity of his former party.

Every time you start to hope that the Conservative Party is recovering its sanity… https://t.co/uE6Uyh4dDP

— David Gauke (@DavidGauke) November 25, 2022

The latest government target, in the battle to reduce immigration, is foreign students. With net migration climbing to a record half a million plus, Sunak is considering putting up barriers to reduce the number of foreign students studying in the UK. Those barriers could include a crackdown on “low quality” degrees, restricting admissions to top universities and preventing foreign students from bringing dependents to the UK.

The plan, which is likely to have the support of the Home Secretary, could meet with resistance in Whitehall, however. The Department of Education will likely raise concerns about the potential impact on university funding, especially as foreign students pay considerably more for their university placements than UK nationals.

Former EU Brexit negotiator & MEP, Guy Verhofstadt, also drew attention to the impact on our country’s future. “Students are the last thing you want to ban”, he tweeted. “Everyone gets richer when talent and ideas travel across borders”. Not that we’d expect any politician, or party, that has swallowed the Brexit Kool-Aid to welcome any talent or ideas that “travel across borders.

Students are the last thing you want to ban. Everyone gets richer when talent and ideas travel across borders.

Another opportunity for Europe to win the race for young people eager to shape the future !https://t.co/5jStLmT4Rb

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) November 25, 2022

No joking matter

British politics has changed so much over the last six years, in ways we never believed possible. Since the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016, we have witnessed a more divisive, mendacious and toxic discourse. A government that increasingly demands more power and less scrutiny, and has taken this country – and the Tory party – so far-right that it’s increasingly difficult to use the word democracy to describe our politics.

The sheer madness of some of the ideas and bills that this government has put forward would be hysterically funny if it weren’t so damned scary. Thankfully, the country, and increasingly the mainstream media, are waking up from their mass hysteria. The rising number of Tory MPs stepping down at the next general election would suggest that the party itself is waking up too. Well, some of them anyway.

So, have the government finally lost the plot? The rest of the world certainly thinks so, and increasingly, so does the voting public. Brexit has already cost four Prime Ministers their jobs. The Tory Party’s sanity looks set to be another Brexit casualty. We can only hope that they won’t be replaced by another kind of Brexit lunacy. It’s time, surely, for some common sense, realism and honesty.

The Brexit joke wasn’t funny in 2016. And it certainly isn’t funny now.

Back in the day when Theresa May was in charge of Brexit and the country, government by soundbite was all the rage. We had the meaningless “Brexit means Brexit” and the fatuous “strong and stable”, but none were so pervasive as the much relied upon “will of the people”.

The will of the people

It was the number one get-out-of-jail-free card for the government. Brexit was not the choice of the government, they said, but the democratic choice of the British voting public. It was defined as the will of the majority, and therefore it was the government’s duty to deliver it. Or at least to try.

Leaving aside the fact that only 17 million people voted for Brexit out of an eligible voting population of around 46 million, the claim that the referendum vote showed a clear majority in favour of leaving the EU was always a stretch. Add to that the fact that Leave won by such a small margin, and the lie that Brexit was the ‘will of the people’ was stretched to breaking point.

The “wrong decision”

Six and a half long years on from the referendum, with the impacts of Brexit being widely felt, the British public’s view of Brexit is rather different. ‘Project fear’ – which warned of the dangers of severing ties with our closest and largest trading partner – has become ‘project reality’. The lies of the Leave campaign have been revealed and the Brexit that was promised has been exposed as an illusion.

The majority of the British public – finally – have opened their eyes to the truth. In a recent YouGov poll, 56% now believe it was the ‘wrong decision to vote to leave the European Union’. Not only is that the highest percentage to date, but the gap between those that believe it was wrong and those that still support Brexit has widened to 24% – another record.

The number of Britons who think it was wrong to vote to leave the EU has reached its highest level to date

Right to vote to leave: 32%
Wrong to vote to leave: 56% https://t.co/RkyseAbrEA pic.twitter.com/qPbhkygEl0

— YouGov (@YouGov) November 17, 2022

It’s not just Remainers saying that Brexit was wrong either. One in five people who voted for Brexit “now think it was the wrong decision” and only 70% – another record – believing they made the right decision in 2016.

Mounting evidence

Despite the government’s bare-faced attempts to hide the truth, or misdirect blame, the evidence of Brexit damage is piling up. Inflation – at 11.1% – is at a 41-year high, the country is in recession and the UK economy is going backwards. Where other countries that suffered economic downturns, due to Covid and the Ukraine war, are now recovering, the UK is not. In fact, the UK is the only G7 country where GDP is now lower that it was before the pandemic.

The Office for Budgetary Responsibility, sponsored by HM Treasury, has predicted a decline of 1.4% in GDP for 2023 – the “sharpest decline in Europe”. But don’t expect the government to accept that any of the UK’s economic problems are down to Brexit, or their own terrible mismanagement. Instead, you’ll hear references to causes outside of their control. Or as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed in his Autumn statement, the blame lies with “unprecedented global headwinds”. The public don’t seem to believe that.

Time for politicians to start listening

It might suit the government to fail to accept the impact of Brexit. What is increasingly hard to justify though, is the Labour Party’s unwillingness to hold the government to account for it. That Labour would prefer to leave a toxic Brexit in the hands of the Conservatives is understandable. Their focus is on winning the next election, and reclaiming lost voters in red wall seats. But with such a demanding lead in the polls, the Tories currently so unpopular and shifting public opinion re Brexit, that Labour policy seems increasingly ill-advised.

With the shift in public opinion away from Brexit and back towards closer ties with Europe, it’s high time the government started listening. Brexit is not the will of the British people. It probably never was. It was, however, the will of an extremist right-wing cult in the Tory party and an attempt by David Cameron to prevent the party tearing itself apart.

As with almost everything else this government has touched since 2016, Brexit has been a very expensive, divisive, damaging and ultimately unsuccessful project. If the last six years have proved anything it’s that the government never cared for anyone’s best interests but their own. Brexit is in no one’s best interests. It’s time the politicians, like the British public, started to say so, out loud and in public.

Chief executive of Next, Lord Simon Wolfson, has been publicly expressing his disappointment with Brexit. The Leave-supporting peer said recently, “it’s definitely not the Brexit that I wanted” and is calling on the government to ease the rules on foreign immigration.

Brexiter Next Boss, Lord Wolfson, "It's definitely not the Brexit I wanted or what many people who voted Brexit wanted – but we're all stuck in this Brexit argument – what post-Brexit Britain looks like is not the preserve of those who voted Brexit, it's for all of us to decide." pic.twitter.com/8GpbwmqR7r

— Brexitshambles (@brexit_sham) November 10, 2022

Labour shortages are being acutely felt across a variety of industries, including retail, hospitality, logistics and farming. Wolfson claims the government is preventing much-needed workers from entering the UK despite the fact that many are “queueing up to come to this country”. Whilst he said it was worth incentivising businesses to recruit workers locally, there was a need to “let people in who can contribute”.

All in the Brexit mess together

Despite the divisiveness of the Brexit debate, we are now, apparently, all in this mess together. According to Wolfson “we’re all stuck in this Brexit argument” and should remember that “what post-Brexit Britain looks like is not the preserve of those that voted for Brexit, it’s for all of us to decide”. That includes, presumably, those of us who voted Remain.

He also claimed his current views on Brexit are shared by most of the Brexit-voting public and that they too didn’t get the Brexit they voted for. Though they did perhaps get the Brexit they were warned about.

Brexit backer Lord Wolfson says on BBC that immigration rules should be relaxed to tackle labour shortages and that "This is not the brexit we wanted". I'm pretty confident that this is the brexit they were warned about.

— Carlos H 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇸🇮🇨🇪🇺❤ (@CarlosTF50) November 10, 2022

The benefit of hindsight

Wolfson’s comments were widely criticised as another example of typical Leaver delusional thinking about Brexit. The expectations of prominent Brexiters were often of the rose-tinted variety where every government promise (lie) was believed, or at least yearned for. In short, the UK would not only flourish but would do so without any cost.

Wolfson had clearly expected to have all his business needs met without any additional barriers or costs. Such expectations of having cake and eating it have since been overtaken by reality. With the benefit of hindsight, that cake is now stale, expensive and hard to source.

"'I didn't think leopards would eat my face', says the man who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party."

James O'Brien reacts to the Brexit-backing Conservative peer and Next boss saying the UK needs more overseas workers. @mrjamesob https://t.co/ZDBCprF0pi

— LBC (@LBC) November 10, 2022

LBC’s James O’Brien was flabbergasted by Wolfson’s comment. In response to the suggestion that the UK “take a different approach to economically productive migration” he replied:

A shift in public opinion

According to the latest polls, anti-Brexit sentiment is rising, and is at its highest level since the referendum. Some 52% of the British public now believe leaving the EU was the wrong decision as opposed to 35% who believe it was the right one.

The increasingly obvious damage that Brexit is causing to the economy, trade, the cost-of-living etc., is a big factor, especially now that damage is no longer hiding behind Covid or the war in Ukraine. But another significant reason for the public change of heart is the exposure of the scale of the lies the public were fed that persuaded so many to vote as they did.

Just a quick check, but is anyone on record saying they have got the Brexit they wanted. https://t.co/HmTf0Rh4xQ

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) November 10, 2022

Common ground

Back in 2016, Brexiters and Remainers had very different rationales for their voting choices. Now, however, both sides share some common ground and we are all suffering the same damaging and expensive consequences. And Wolfson is right about one thing. This is not the Brexit that any of us voted for. Not even those who were in charge of delivering it.

It is the Brexit our government negotiated, not the one that it promised. It’s the Brexit deal it lauded, then hated, and is now trying to unravel. Because the government doesn’t have the first clue how to fix it or to admit that Conservative ministers got it so horribly wrong.

That the government can’t be trusted with making Brexit work, in any way, shape or form, should be obvious to even those with the rosiest tinted glasses. That the government can’t be trusted to solve any of the country’s problems should scare the living Brexit out of us all!