Insight
Dear EU leaders, please handle Britain with care by Simon Tilford 29 June 2016
Britain is in serious trouble. It does not need further concessions from you, but the dust needs to settle before it can take decisions about its future. This is not an easy time to be British, or rather English. I cannot remember a period when the country was held in such contempt. The derision being heaped on it is fully justified. The Brexit campaign encapsulated all the country’s negative sides: immodesty, surly resentment of foreigners, a preference for style over substance and rose-tinted sentimentality about the past. We are currently hard to like. Schadenfreude at Britain’s difficulties is understandable. The country has always seen itself as a beacon of political stability in Europe and has been less than humble about its failings. But we are also in serious trouble. And there is a very different Britain to the one on display at present. For that Britain to prevail, it will need help from you. That means being patient with a country that many of you understandably think has done little to deserve it. I fully appreciate that it is hard to be understanding when confronted with opportunist politicians like Boris Johnson or Michael Gove. Even after this catastrophe, the Conservative Party is still playing party politics rather than running the country. There is a very real risk that the leadership campaign for the Conservative Party will see yet more unfounded claims about the EU before someone is elected and has to assume responsibility for finding a way out of the mess. At the same time, the opposition Labour Party has also descended into chaos, and could soon also be leaderless. And then we may yet get a general election as early as the autumn. In short, this country is not able to make decisions at the moment and will not be for some time to come. Last week’s vote has laid bare the fragility of the country’s political stability. The urge to punish Britain is understandable. The referendum result has caused serious political problems for countries across Europe. Britain is not the only country with domestic political constraints, even if it often behaves as though it is. But please remember that almost half the electorate voted to remain in the EU, despite massive disinformation by both politicians and the media and at a time of very weak support for the EU across Europe, not just in the UK. Moreover, young Britons voted
CER INSIGHT: Dear EU leaders, please handle Britain with care 29 June 2016
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