Your editorial rightly says that our "politicians must not run scared of what`s right", and instead support a second referendum (It`s time for May to put her deal to the people, 09.12.18). Giving in to right-wing propaganda about the "potential for civil unrest" would be cowardly, but holding a people`s vote before a general election has its drawbacks.
With the purpose being to persuade a significant number of Leave voters to change their minds, two aspects of a second campaign should be straightforward; reminding the electorate of the lies told by Johnson et al about post-Brexit`s economic prosperity, the ease with which new trade deals could be negotiated, and a return to our non-existent "glorious past", when supposedly "standing alone", whilst simultaneously displaying May`s "lose-lose deal" as the best realistically available, should not prove problematic. Difficulties arise, however, when trying to win over those who voted Leave as a "middle finger" gesture to recent governments. Why would they believe a Tory/centrist campaign, which lacked any power to ease the hardship caused by austerity polices, lack of investment, and the fall in real incomes? How could Tory MPs explain that the large amount of EU investment in our cities was the result of their government`s refusal to put any significant money anywhere other than the south-east? Imagine the effect of incursions by the likes of Blair and Mandelson!
Having included a second referendum in its manifesto, a recently-elected Labour government, on the other hand, could promise and deliver on the remedies those Leave voters require. Far from a general election achieving "little in moving us forwards", it`s our only hope!
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