It’s time for change in the UK parliament
The UK is clearly stuck in a constitutional crisis. David Cameron promised his referendum on Europe to avoid splitting his party, which has always been divided over Europe. Theresa May is continuing that battle, trying to find common ground between the hard right, anti-Europe wing of her party, and the centrist, pro-Europeans. On top of that she is also trying to maintain the support of the DUP, with whom her party really has almost nothing in common. Indeed, the DUP has very little in common with anyone else in the UK, so that makes things even harder.
Meanwhile, the Labour party has split itself over the centrist legacy of Tony Blair and New Labour, and the new/old hard leftism of Jeremy Corbyn and the Momentum movement.
It is no wonder that nobody can agree on anything. We are seeing Unions negotiating with the Conservatives, Labour MPs voting with Tories, Tories with Labour, and MPs who are technically in opposition working together to oppose their own parties.
It is clearly time for the two main parties to come clean and break into their two respective parts. The Labour party is really two parties: the Momentum left of Jeremy Corbyn, which wants to create a socialist utopia outside Europe, and the centre left, pro-European party of Chuka Umunna and Sadiq Khan. The centre-left mainstream of the party are struggling with the anti-semitism, ambiguity over Europe, and general approach of their hard left colleagues.
Meanwhile the Conservative party is clearly two parties: the European Research Group, personified by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson, which is rabidly anti-Europe, convinced of British exceptionalism rooted in historical greatness, and pandering to hard right-wing visions on immigration and society; and then the centre-right, pro-European party of Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve.
In both parties there is a great deal of talent currently wasted on the back benches because their front benches only represent their extreme wings. That is a loss to the country, which urgently needs principled, intelligent politicians right now. What is more absurd is that increasingly those talented, moderate MPs are working together regardless of their party affiliations, and then returning to their opposing benches when it comes to voting along party lines.
