So-called “Re-leavers”, Remain voters who resigned themselves to quitting the EU, are deciding they want to stop Brexit after all. YouGov analysis shows that the proportion of Remain voters willing to “go ahead” with Brexit fell from 51% in June to just 28% in September.
Strong arguments can help strengthen this trend and convince other Re-leavers to shift their position. There’s even scope for persuading softer Leave voters to abandon Brexit. Both Re-leavers and soft Leavers will need to be brought on side to stop Brexit.
There are four key arguments.
First, it’s not too late to stop Brexit. We haven’t left the EU yet and May’s government is increasingly weak and wobbly. What’s more, the EU almost certainly wouldn’t stop us changing our mind. As EU Council president Donald Tusk said this week: “It is in fact up to London how this will end, with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit.”
Second, it’s not undemocratic to try and stop Brexit. As David Davis himself said back in 2012: “If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy.” The Brextremists and pro-Brexit press have relentlessly insisted otherwise, with headlines about “saboteurs” and “enemies of the people” smearing anyone who dares speak out against the madness. They are increasingly shrill. Yesterday Tory Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg denounced the governor of the Bank of England as “an enemy of Brexit” while the Daily Mail’s front-page splash today condemned “our Remainer universities” for allegedly doling out anti-Brexit propaganda. Pro-Europeans need to see this for what it is: a vicious campaign to stop free speech.
Third, the government is making a total hash of the Brexit talks. Ivan Rogers, our former EU ambassador, told MPs yesterday that he’d warned we’d get “screwed” if we triggered Article 50 but the government went ahead anyway. Now, of course, we are getting screwed.
Fourth, the negative consequences of Brexit are already biting. Brexiters scream “Project Fear” to silence pro-Europeans. But the evidence is mounting. In the last 24 hours alone, we’ve had data on falling car production, a 0.4% squeeze in real wages and the biggest year-on-year fall in retail sales since the financial crisis. Project Fear is sadly becoming Project Reality.
Public opinion is starting to change. Brexit can still be stopped with convincing fact-based arguments.