I thought it strange Nigel Farage used his Queen’s Speech slot to call for a referendum on the European Human Rights Treaty. That makes two referendums Reform now want, one on PR and one on human rights. There is no way a Labour government with such a huge majority will offer either, so Reform is left demanding things the government will never grant and which most people do not see as a priority. Calling for a referendum when there is a popular need is best done in an Election Manifesto as the Conservatives did with the EU referendum which was long overdue.
There is likely to be 4-5 years before a General election. In that time there is scope to forecast what is going to go wrong for Labour and to build up a head of steam for change. I think many people will be livid with Labour if the small boats keep delivering illegal migrants, and if well paid lawyers use International law to block action against illegal migrants. Labour may well be forced to take further action to control our borders.
The obvious answer is the one the last Conservative government turned down. Parliament can and should legislate to put beyond doubt what is required of our Border Force and courts to turn back or return illegals. I supported amendments that would have done it, setting out a sensible way to stop the illegals in U.K. law and saying that law takes precedence over any international court .There is no need to tear up the whole Treaty which Labour will not do. There is every need to constrain actions of the international court that makes it impossible for legal U.K. authorities to control our borders sensibly.
The next election will not be fought under a system of PR so Opposition parties have to work within the current FPTP system. It produced an unusually unbalanced Parliament last time where it gave Labour a majority out of all proportion to its vote. That should be a rare event and was only possible because both major parties were unpopular at the same time, and both had been following very similar policies. We still have the accountable single member constituencies where once again many have discovered the hard way they do get sacked if they cease to please. The way to get change from here is for Conservative and Reform to oppose intelligently and energetically. That requires understanding the reasons people are so disillusioned with the traditional parties , and offering something better either by their reform or by a new party winning support for a new approach that does reflect public concerns.
Follow this news feed: John Redwood MP