We need a clean break from the EU to recover from virus - Brian Monteith

It is only a year ago today that I was waking up to the realisation that I had been elected as a Member of the European Parliament as a candidate for The Brexit Party.

Brian Monteith (right) after being declared an MEP for the North East of England

The count for the elections, always held on a Sunday, following the vote on the previous Thursday, sent shock waves through the UK’s political system. Although of less importance than elections for Westminster or our devolved institutions, the outcome offered up existential shocks to the two main parties that very quickly changed the political landscape and altered the country’s route of travel. History was undoubtedly changed.

Following the national counts Theresa May’s Conservatives were in a state of apoplectic shock, coming fifth after their vote plummeted 15 points to less than 9 per cent. Labour, which in normal times might have been the beneficiary, lay prostrate after taking a similar hammering, losing eleven points to less than 14 per cent. From a standing start of launching only shortly before the elections The Brexit Party garnered more than 30 per cent of the votes. In comparison, the new pro-EU centrist party “Change UK” that had attracted well-known MPs from both the Labour and Conservative parties polled only 3.3;er cent.

Beyond the issue of honouring the European Union membership referendum held three years earlier by leaving the EU with or without a trade “deal” The Brexit Party did not campaign on any policies. This was in fact a strength, not a weakness, for what mattered most to my electorate was that I stood on a platform of respecting how they had voted in that referendum.

When I set up my street stalls I was humbled by the number of people – practically all of them volunteering they were former Labour voters – who came up to me to shake my hand or give me a bear hug and wish me the best. Others revealed how they had already voted for me, using a postal ballot no doubt set up by the Labour Party in previous elections (it was this information that convinced me Labour was doomed in their own heartlands).

Whenever I or fellow Brexit Party candidates gave speeches at rallies it was the lines about delivering on the referendum and upholding the democratic result that drew the loudest cheers. And while there were boos for any mention of Theresa May the greatest abuse was reserved for Jeremy Corbyn who many had voted for in the 2017 General Election after he had committed to Brexit being delivered – but was now viewed as an unpatriotic traitor. The arguments of the referendum were rarely repeated, what people wanted now was to be treated with respect.

These voters were now angry and disenchanted with democracy after being told their vote would count – then to be told there vote could not count because they did not know what they were voting for, but were ignorant, racist and bigoted. The European Parliament election gave those voters the opportunity to send a message to the two main parties and to the political establishment that they could not be ignored, and they embraced it with both hands.

Now, as we are coming to terms of possibly some 60,000 “excess deaths” following our experience of the coronavirus pandemic this episode exactly a year ago possibly seems for most people like the distant past and in many ways irrelevant. What could be more important than reflecting on the current need to save lives?

Well, I have done much of that reflecting over the last couple of months; pointing to the shortcomings of the UK Government’s initial economic forecasts and provisions (which were both very quickly uprated); challenging the crass insensitivity of the Scottish Government not delivering the full funding to businesses who had been led to believe they would be helped; revealing a number of scandalous examples of how our care homes have been treated abominably and then, in Scotland, threatened with being nationalised; and without much difficulty shown that the First Minister’s need to portray every decision or action as if it is Scottish in origin by replicating it, rebranding it and of course delaying it has made #jockdown far worse than anything else in the rest of the UK. So yes, there is much to be said about the pandemic and I shall no doubt say more in the coming weeks, but I thought I should take the opportunity of the anniversary of the devastating rout of the Tory and Labour parties exactly a year ago to argue the following. The necessary response to the coronavirus pandemic will visit upon the vast majority of us that have survived it the most devastating economic reversal we have ever experienced. It will be deeper than the financial recession, the depression of the thirties, the immediate economic slump in 1919 following the end of the First World War and the Spanish Flu. It will be off the scale beyond the existence of the UK and the recovery will not be quick for there will be great changes in behaviour towards anything that involves being in crowds or groups.

To revive our economy will require our government to make its own decisions that are best for this country and not restricted by laws we shall have no say in, nor face costs we have no control over or fines for acting in our own interests. We must respect our democratic decision of 2016 and again last year to leave the EU fully on 31 December and under no circumstances extend the transition period that would places huge restrictions on the UK’s ability to act and face huge liabilities for a eurozone that faces implosion.

Leaving without a deal has been said to be like falling off a cliff – it was never true but let me make it plain, we fell off that cliff the moment lockdown started.

We are at rock bottom and need to scale the economic heights. That will require a liberal, creative and flexible economy – not one held back by the continuing entanglement of growing EU laws that comes at a cost we cannot afford.

Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org