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The liberal elite are like cockroaches

Rory Broomfield
October 12, 2016

While the political tables may have turned on the liberal elite, they will never die. Instead, only sound argument will keep these political cockroaches at bay, argues Rory Broomfield.

So who are the rebels now? Since the historic vote to leave the European Union, the tables have turned and now the once dutiful Cameroonian government ministers have become not just rebels but sour-mouthed backbenchers who don't respect the will of the people. These people won't go away and, combined with minnows like Tim Farron, show that just like cockroaches no matter how the British public vote they will still survive.

They will survive because, in many cases, they change their clothes – much like Cameron did throughout his time as PM.  They will duck and swerve as they try anything to get publicity for their mediocre ideas; they will say anything one minute and change their opinions the next. The prime example of this is that Paddy Ashdown is now heading the swivel-eyed group called Open Britain that looks for the UK to remain in the Single Market. But what did he say on the referendum night? According to Michael Gove, he said:

"I will forgive no one who does not respect the sovereign voice of the British people once it has spoken whether it is a majority of one per cent or 20 per cent… When the British people have spoken you do what they command…Either you believe in democracy or you don't."

Funny how things change. For, as being in the EU Single Market means that you are part of the European Union – subject to laws passed through the EU, the EU's court system and other EU obligations – a vote to leave the European Union is a vote to leave the Single Market. Indeed, both David Cameron and George Osborne said a vote to Leave the EU meant a vote to leave the Single Market. Obviously for Ashdown and the Open Britain group, respect for democracy only applies when you win.

But accepting that these people will never die – that they have no principles apart from their own self-righteousness – what do we do about it?

Prove them wrong.

In my latest publication, Cutting the Gordian Knot, I set out along with my co-author, Iain Murray, a roadmap for British exit from the European Union. The liberal elite may object but this roadmap sets out a process allows for a Royal Commission on Regulatory Reduction with special powers to present packages of reforms before Parliament. If correctly established through the steps set out in the paper, the Commission will help unwind unwanted EU laws and make the UK's economy more competitive – even more competitive than anywhere in the EU.

But it doesn't stop there. Proposals such as an immigration tariff based around market principles (rather than a points-based system), a model that more closely follows the New Zealand model of agriculture (rather than the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy), and a desire to embrace global (rather than regional) regulation in the finance sector are all part of a mix of policy suggestions that would allow the UK to excel in the wider (global) world.

Ultimately, we need a policy agenda that makes the UK more competitive, more outward looking and more successful. This would fly in the face of the fanatical idiots that are looking to subvert the will of the people and, as they obviously won't listen to the people, then we just have to get on with the job and prove them wrong.

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Rory Broomfield is Director of The Freedom Association and the Better Off Out campaign. He is an authority on the EU and has written a number of books including his latest, co-authored with Iain Murray, Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Roadmap for British Exit from the European Union. He has previously worked in the City of London and in Westminster for a number of Members of Parliament, including the current Prime Minister, Theresa May; the current Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady; and Sir Richard Shepherd.
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