Brexit must happen. Of course it must, for the people have decreed it should and, in this instance, their command cannot, as it can be in other circumstances, be countermanded. That leaves ample room for argument over the precise shape of Brexit – for it turns out there are many kinds of Brexit – but the essence of the matter is clear: Brexit must mean Brexit.
It is possible to be sanguine about this and to recognise that even as the net impact of Brexit is likely to be negative in an economic sense, some sectors of the economy may benefit from it. In many areas, there is undoubtedly an opportunity to do some things differently and, who knows and with some luck, perhaps even do them better. The sky may darken; it should not fall.
But there is, once again, a difference between Brexit and Brexiteers. The action is forgivable, the people demanding it are not. One thing, above all, has become clear: the majority of Leave voters do not love the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
I imagine many Brexiteers will bristle at this as they always do when inconvenient or dispiriting truths are illuminated. This is not my Brexit, they say, so how dare you suggest it is. Doubtless in individual cases this is so; referendums are very personal epiphanies after all. But collectively, the benefit of the doubt ran out long ago.
Happily – which is to say, miserably – we have ample supplied of empirical evidence to demonstrate the degree to which pro-Brexit voters love their country so much they’re prepared to sacrifice it on the Brexit altar they have built for themselves. This, I suppose, is how you prove your devotion.
Lord Ashcroft’s latest polling
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