It's a question of who has the power

Every now and then I mention that the EU is not a democracy and then my Twitter notifications are clogged up for the next hour by remainers telling me the MEPs are elected and yadda yadda yadda. It's an indication of how far we have drifted from democracy that the public, and quite a few politicians, equate empty voting rituals with democracy. This is where I come back to that speech by Michael Foot whose politics are a million miles from my own.

People didn't fight for the vote just to have the fun of electioneering. They wanted to see that the vote that they used at the ballot box could change things, stop things, alter things, remove governments when necessary. That's one of the principal reasons for having a vote. But that's not going to happen if we're gong to stay in the Market and if we become enmeshed in the whole of their machinery and apparatus - because what will happen then is that you can go an have an election in this country in which you can vote out the government here - but you won't be voting out all the governments that meet in Brussels to decide what is going to happen to us. [...] It is that precious inheritance given us by the people who fought for the right to vote, fought for the right to form trade unions, fought for the right to establish their own institution, fought for the right to have an elected house of commons which should be the supreme authority in this country and answerable to nobody else. It is those things that are at stake in this campaign. We will have plenty of problems to solve after June the Fifth, but let us make it clear that, not merely to our own country, but to the other countries that we believe here in Britain we can solve these problems by using the strength of our democratic institutions instead of casting them aside in this trivial wanton way. 

This is right at the heart of the Brexit debate to which all other issues are fringe. This is what modern politics has lost sight of. This is where you have to ask a very simple question. How do I, an EU citizen, influence EU policy?

I know I can influence the UK debate. This blog has made some humble breakthroughs where I have heard my words spoken in the House of Commons. I have seen my suggestions translated into policy and I know I have some high profile readers on occasion. Blogging is an essential part of democratic participation - especially when we have such an inept media. This blog makes a contribution. Politics is decided by those who show up.

With persistence and patience, with only modest resources, it is possible to influence British politics. There are many questions to be asked as to have we can improve that, but it remains the case that we can at least make a small difference.

I cannot, though, say I could ever hope to influence the EU. For starters there's that language thing, and the fact the supreme government is in another country and overseas. To influence the EU you have to know the right people and have the necessary prestige. To me the EU is an unresponsive corporate machine and there is no interaction with it. I do not connect with it. The "rights" it bestows upon me are not useful to me and the unintended consequences of them can be entirely counterproductive.

There are plenty of people who will tell you they can influence the EU (and they really have) but what they all share in common is that they have bought into the EU wholesale and have gone native. As we head into the most critical point in Brexit negotiations, they are the ones gaslighting for the EU.

These will be the bland, compliant functionaries of the Jo Cox ilk. Fully signed up to every soft left agenda of the NGOcracy and politically correct to to the core. Exactly the sort of people who will tell the EU exactly what it wants to hear - that we should have more EU regulation, more power for them and less for us.

Ultimately the EU only hears that which it wants to hear. Every single one of our MEPs could belong to a eurosceptic party, and irrespective of how effective they were, they would still not influence the technocratic agenda of the EU and would not be in a position to block initiatives even if they voted unanimously.

Were I, however, to turn up to Brussels dressed in a blue and yellow leotard singing Ode to Joy, scribbling crayon drawings pleading for the EU to do more to reduce fossil fuel usage, I'd be on the cover of every glossy internal PR rag and eventually given a cushy Eurocrat job - on a very tidy salary. Not for nothing do NGO wonks have a life of frequent expenses paid travel to Brussels and Strasbourg to attend workshops and jamborees.

Ultimately the EU will never get the message because it's just not receptive to inputs contrary to its fanatical devotion to ever closer union. Consequently, it can only ever become more remote and out of touch. There is nothing to interrupt the the closed circuit. It pays NGOs to lobby itself to the point where it's stuffed to the gunwales with conformists, and then wonders why the public do not relate to it.

There is a well trodden career path for those who want a ride on the gravy train, but from the outset requires that all critical faculties are suspended and all scepticism to be spoken only in private. After forty years of membership we now have a well pensioned legion of Euro-aristocracy who will take their message of brotherhood and unity out to the plebs.

Having cemented itself so deeply into the civil institutions of the UK it enjoys unparalleled influence over UK political culture which explains the gulf between the establishment and the electorate. They inhabit entirely different worlds. The public may demand reform but David Cameron showed us that our establishment would never ask for reform and wouldn't get it if they did.

We could organise through parties and force our government to take a position, say on limiting EU migrants, but if another country disagrees then that's the end of the debate. If we want to deport rough sleepers who come here without a job in mind, the ECJ has the last word. No campaign you or I mount makes a difference. The EU successfully mounted a silent coup, taking control of the UK.

Very often I am told by remainers that if they have to choose between the EU regime and one of the Tory right then they prefer the devil they know. Some people are satisfied with the dead hand of technocarcy and are often well insulated from its consequences. For them there is no reason to rock the boat and every reason to frustrate democracy. That is the fundamental divide in Britain.

This is why it matters that the referendum mandate is carried out. There is a very simple premise here. If a winning majority vote cannot change things and if those in power do not respect the vote then we'll have ripped up the social contract.

I was part of a movement that mobilised over twenty years to force a referendum, doing what you're supposed to do to bring about political change. If we're saying that can be casually swept aside because it inconveniences the incumbents then we have to explore other means to remove them. None of them are good.