Is UK politics doomed or dithering?

For anyone living in the UK just now, there’s one word which sums up politics — division. Not division in the old sense of left and right, liberal and conservative, nationalist and unionist. Those divides have always existed. Division in the sense of disunity, distance and factionalism.

The UK has a proud democratic history. Our parliament presides over one of the oldest functioning democracies in the world. A democracy which has stood the test of time over centuires and formed the basis for other democratic institutions around the world.

The Westminster Parliament has weathered debates on huge issues like the abolition of the slave trade, workers rights, womens’ suffrage and British involvement in two World Wars. And the resolution of these debates has left the country in a better position than it was in before.

However, British democracy has reached an impasse in the form of a petty dispute over politico-economic union with Europe. In 2016, Brits voted by a narrow majority to leave the European Union, negotiate different trade agreements and have total sovereignty over the political direction of the country in years to come.

Parliamentarians are locked in a bitter debate over whether or not the UK should leave the EU, despite the result of the Brexit referendum, and despite the assurances of consecutive Government’s that they would get the job done.

Over the last three years, politics has spiraled into an increasingly nasty spiral of indecision and bickering. Old nationalist and classist divisions have been rekindled and the four corners of the UK are increasingly at odds with one another. It’s difficult to know what the next three years will bring.

Brexit came from nowhere, caused havoc, and is threatening to change the very nature of the UK for generations to come. It is vital that politicians get past it not just to honour the vote, but to preserve the fabric of UK democracy itself.

Will it really be Brexit that derails Westminster and the unity of the United Kingdom after all these centuries? Or will parliamentarians wake up and smell the coffee?

Is UK politics doomed, or is it simply dithering?

The next few years promise to be a fascinating journey. I’ll endeavour to share my (limited) thoughts as it unfolds.

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