James Kirkup James Kirkup

Remainers must stop sneering at Brexit stamps and blue passports

First blue passports. Now Brexit stamps. For some, these belong in the same file as the Royal Yacht Britannia and Big Ben’s bongs. See also: filament lightbulbs and fruit and veg sold in pounds and ounces.

For some (repeat: some) Remain-voting politicians and observers, this stuff is ridiculous, old-fashioned nonsense, an attempt to drag Britain back to some imagined 1950s idyll and proof to their suspicions that Leavers are old, weird and stupid. Just in case you need an illustration of this, dip into online ‘debate’ about the Sun’s Brexit stamps campaign.

Now, I should declare an interest: I voted Remain and still can’t see any of the possible outcomes of Brexit that is better than those that faced us if we’d stayed. But that doesn’t mean I think Brexit can or must be stopped.

Indeed, while I worry that Brexit will do economic harm, I also worry that stopping it could do greater social and political harm.

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