I have often thought that the title Great Britain spoke of the pomposity and hubris that stems from our small island mentality and the ancient legacy of the British Empire which prevails in English nostalgia. We have been taught a valuable lesson by Brexit, that no man or woman is an island, nor any country. The effect of a 4.5% loss in GDP from Brexit is a massive hindrance to rebuilding Britain. It is like trying to swim from Dover to Calais with a 4.5 kg block of concrete around your neck. I have been speaking with Gina Miller about the need to rebuild Britain, socially, economically, environmentally, technologically, politically, and ethically. Gina took the British Government to our Supreme Court to establish that Britain was always a sovereign nation and that we did not need to leave the EU via Brexit to maintain our independence. She now leads the True and Fair party, devoted to rebuilding our politics and institutions. She proposes three areas for attention.
Gina Miller’s three areas of focus.
Cleaning up politics
In my career as an author and speaker, I travel widely and talk with people across many continents. In these conversations, the vast majority of people abroad used to think of Britain as a great democracy where politicians operated on a ‘good chap’ code of conduct. Now they ask me what has happened to your country and they mostly feel pity for Brexit Britain. A major clean-up is needed. Our politics are now polluted with cronyism, sleaze and a lack of respect for the rule of law. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman was recently taken to the Supreme Court over her immoral, indecent, and impractical Rwanda policy for migrants. Judges ruled unanimously (5-0) against her that Rwanda was not a safe country for custody of migrants. In all normal times, most sensible politicians would have accepted the judges’ decision. In Braverman’s case, she wanted to rewrite the law and, in doing so, leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This would make Britain the first country to be ‘twinned’ with Belarus and North Korea in terms of ethics. Finally, Braverman was sacked. She now plots a revolt against Rishi Sunak and her party.
Gina’s policy statements on cleaning up politics include a needs-based immigration system. a modern Magna Carta and reforms to our House of Lords.
Modernising democracy
If an alien were to watch video footage of a day in British Parliament, they would probably think that Britain’s politicians were stuck in the 14th Century. Bizarre practices such as:
Filling up time in the sessions (fillibustering), so that important laws can be delayed or ditched. An inability to call out liars and lying in Parliament. MPs real names are not allowed to be used. Instead ‘the right honourable gentleman/lady’ must be used for people that are not ‘right’ or ‘honourable’. … and many other insane daily routines practices would be stopped were Parliament a school playground. I know that there are parallels in other countries.
Gina proposes many reforms to modernise our democracy, including a ‘Truth law’, the need to attend work for 40 weeks a year and banning second jobs for politicians. The UK First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system also needs reforms towards a proportional representation system.
Fighting corruption
Britain has slumped to its lowest-ever score in Transparency International’s global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), from 11 to 18 in just ten years. Britain managed to beat Qatar (-5), Myanmar (-5), Azerbaijan (-7) and Oman (-8) in its ‘improvements to corruption. In case you are thinking that it makes no difference to your daily life, the World Bank estimates that $2.6 trillion, or 5% of GDP is lost to corruption every year. Ultimately this comes out of people’s pay packets, in the cost of living, and via higher taxes.
Gina proposes the setting up of an economic crime unit which costs Britain £290 billion every year. Money that would be better spent on growing the economy and providing public services. She also wishes to strengthen to role of judges and the rule of law, introducing Ethics in Public Life legislation, to address ‘the revolving doors’ between public officials who move between the public, political, and private sectors.
Ending Brexit
Brexit has failed and I won’t go into the arguments here on an international platform. To read more on this subject, read our article on the topic with former House of Commons’ speaker John Bercow, Gina Miller et al. at The Ayes have it. A commitment to ending Brexit would produce some immediate uplift to our failing economy and growth potential. Ultimately social and political benefits would follow to restore human dignity in the UK. Gina Miller has the clearest policy on joining the EU anew and restoring our position economically, morally, and socially as a major player in the world.
Our experiment in populism is not unique. It spreads like a pandemic, from Trump, Milei, Meloni to Wilders, Orbán, and Putin. The cure for this disease is education.
