After Brexit 1: The Quality of Government

This is the first of three posts which will appear in the coming days which look at issues which will arise after Brexit. The harder the Brexit, the more their conclusions will apply. Today we examine something which has become troubling.

The EU operates, once decisions have been taken, at close to a single state during their implementation. Members, through their own ministers in Council, reach decisions, but share their collective strength to organise the outcome. Decisions are reached and programmes brought into effect mostly by consensus, but sometimes by majority voting. Once out of the EU it will all be down to us. Hooray, that’s what we want, I hear you cry. Fine, I respond, but this is the price tag on what comes next.

There is now mounting evidence that neither our Westminster political structure nor our Whitehall administrative machine is any longer, in a modern world, fit for purpose. Every day there is news of yet another failure or fiasco in the public system, governing almost every discipline and service. The usual line-up of health, education, social care and Universal Credit spring at once to mind and sometimes are horrific.But there are lesser issues, like sorting out the cladding in high rise buildings, introducing smart meters, railway timetables, failures in the transport system to cope with any degree of unusual weather, hot or cold, the probation service, the Crown Prosecution Service failures in evidence disclosure. Nothing seems to work as expected or as reasonable expectations demand.

Nothing underscores this more than the Brexit shambles. Whatever you voted you would expect to proceed in a business like manner, one step at a time, piling agreement upon agreement. Instead we cannot even determine with certainty what it is we are seeking to negotiate, nor add specifics which have any chance of working or being agreed, in the key areas of difficulty. This is partly Whitehall being out of its depth. But what about Parliament? There are splits in every direction within parties, within the House, and within every proposal put forward.

So do not suppose ‘being in charge of our own laws’ will be a new dawn on the happy march to the promised Utopia. It may instead be a democratic and administrative train wreck. And the solutions may demand the dismantling of everything the ardent Brexiteers hold the most dear. It is, I believe, the biggest post Brexit danger we face. Which is why I have posted about it first.