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While watching Gina Miller deliver her speech last Thursday, it occurred to me that for the first time in this wretched situation, Brexit has produced a real leader. And this woman is too good for the existing parties. What’s needed is a new one with people like Gina at the helm.

Up to few weeks ago, Gina Miller was an investment bank manager and a pretty decent one at that, too. But as of last week, Miss Miller has been thrust forward as the de facto leader of the Remain campaign. Others have tried and failed to take the reins of the Remain campaign: Bob Geldoff and, just recently, Tony Blair to name a few, but none of the pretenders have shown the composure and downright integrity like Gina Miller has. She has defied the government who initially tried to laugh off her and her team’s proposal and argued that its executive powers, under the royal prerogative, were sufficient for David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, to formally announce Britain’s exit on behalf of Theresa May’s Cabinet. However, on the 3rd of November she and her team proved them wrong and showed that yet another layer of inconsistences and poor management of the whole referendum existed when the High Court ruled in her favour by stating that the Government does not have power to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval and a vote from MPs.

So now that there is uncertainty about what the government’s next step will be, is this the right time for Britain to establish a new party dedicated to resolving the Brexit issue? There certainly seems to be a desire for new politics. And with over 16 million voters currently determined to fight Brexit, surely there must be a grand opportunity for a political movement that can bring together the strengths of the Remain campaign and give the people who wish to stay as European Citizens what they want: a plan.

Who’s in charge?

Despite the fact that these 16 million British citizens want to stay in Europe, none of the major parties seem too keen to fight their corner. The Conservatives may have campaigned to remain, but they are more concerned about staying in government, so they are resigned to continuing with Brexit. The Labour party is in turmoil, because no matter what they try to do, Jeremy Corbyn, the Rasputin of British politics, seems impervious to the chop. And it seems that he is privately in favour of Brexit as his hope is that the EU will eventually end up as some kind of Communist light regime where he and his comrades can re-write manifestos well into their retirement. The Liberal Democrats are fully in favour of remaining in Europe, but unfortunately their last appearance in government was with the conservatives and that didn’t work too well for them. Their popularity took a nosedive and their leader, Tim Farron, is indeed energetic, but has too much ground to catch up on in order to make a big difference. The 16 million remain voters are leaderless and cannot look to the establishment any longer. There simply hasn’t been anybody in the political sphere who either wants to take the lead or can take the lead.

Until now


While I was watching Gina Miller make her speech at the steps of the court last Thursday, I couldn’t help but compare her to another British inspiring and exhilarating female leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Both women are focused and resolved in what they want. Compared to these ladies, Therese May looks tired, sullen and defeated. She simply hasn’t got what I think is required to bring Britain through its most difficult time since the Second World War.

A clean slate

What the people of Britain need is someone who is fresh and untarnished by the political machine and that woman is Gina Miller. And she is no shrinking violet, as her recent performance in the public eye has shown. She is precise in her delivery and knows what she is talking about. It’s the calm demeanour that impresses me so much with Miss Millar, there is no panic. Her recent appearance on BBC’s the Marr Show saw her in direct debate with the prince of Brexit, Mr Farage. She dealt with his postulating by stating facts and not allowing herself to be dragged into an ‘us versus them’ argument. At the end, Farage was resigned to admitting that the system was at fault and even agreeing with her on a number of issues.

 

But there isn’t a place for her in any of the existing parties, so it’s got to be a new one. The argument may be that this new party is a one trick pony established to do one thing – stay in the EU. That may be true, but it sounds familiar, doesn’t it? No doubt Mr Farage and his cronies will say that UKIP is on new path and that it is moving beyond its mandate of old, but so far, thankfully, they have managed to self-implode. But being set up to do one thing isn’t such a bad idea initially.  There would be nothing to stop this party from merging with say, the Liberal Democrats, and giving Britain a real liberal force, backed up by a large membership and voting percentage.

Time is of the essence

The time is right, but the Remain campaign needs to act fast. A new party would need to be established quickly, and social media can be used to get it mobilised at a local level. There are hundreds of Facebook pages dedicated to local demonstrations in favour of remain and these pages can be quickly turned into local party branches. This party would also need to be a voice for the 3 million people who have no vote, but are residents in the UK. They must look at Scotland and work out an arrangement with regards to unity or independence. Whatever that agreement, it must be made public, so that the citizens know where they stand. They must be willing to bring leave voters in from the cold and not judge them for their decision to vote the way they did. They can’t bring in the extreme element and nor should they try to, but there is a massive middle ground that can be won with new faces and new names. Overall, they need to be a party that will unite and not divide the UK. Anything else will be a failure.

I believe that the people of the remain campaign need to look at this as a solid option, get the right people involved and have Gina Miller as their figurehead. And if this new party is going to push for another referendum, or maybe even the recent proposal by Luxembourg MEP, Charles Goerensthen’ to award associate citizenship to citizens of former member states, it needs to have a clear message and that can be achieved by telling the truth.

Ken Sweeney
Committed to idea of supporting aspiring writers and journalists. Serial podcaster.

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    2 Comments

    1. It going to very hard on them because I run the youth parliament in Australia and it took 7 days to write down and to run normal if there is someone in this country who isn’t scare of the future and believe in themselves and the country and it will also very tireding on your body and your family yes I do agree we need a new party for Europe in this country.

    2. Good article. I suggest that, rather than starting a new party, Gina Miller could join the Green Party 🙂

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