After Theresa May’s decision to take the country towards a “hard Brexit” and reframe the Conservatives as a party of patriotism, anti-immigration, is there any need for UKIP?
UKIP had planned to work as a pressure group to make sure that the Conservative government did not back down on pulling the UK out of the European Union in the wake of the vote on 23 June. However, Theresa May appears to already favour the idea of a “hard Brexit”, with the UK not only out of the political union, but also the single market, and patriotism and anti-immigration central to her party’s social agenda.
The multicultural Tory party of David Cameron has been abruptly pushed aside in favour of a hard shift to the right, with May’s Tories now occupying the formerly right wing fringe territory of UKIP. And with UKIP apparently unable to select any other leader than Nigel Farage, maybe it is time for UKIP to be absorbed into the Conservative party.
May’s ideas on a “hard Brexit” are more extreme than those held by major UKIP-backer Aaron Banks in the lead up to the referendum, with Banks among the many Leave voters that wanted the UK to have a Norway-like deal with the EU – an economic agreement without the political unification.
The coalition of Leave voters, which ranged from those wanting a hard Brexit, to those wanting to Remain but give Cameron a kicking, managed to get 52 percent of the vote in June. But just 100 days after the vote, May has concluded that anything short of yanking up the drawbridge and toughening the castle defenses would be a betrayal of the country’s democratic will.
Perhaps May is defining her leadership on the narrow Brexit victory because she has never won an election, not from the members of her own party or from the wider electorate, and understands the inherent weakness of her position. Perhaps she is starting off with tough talk so that a Norway-like “soft Brexit” will be considered a good compromise when the financial impact of the vote starts to hit those “hard working families” the Tories like to shout about.
Whatever the reason, May’s current plans for the Tory party match those of UKIP in 2015. Nigel Farage does not need to lead UKIP for the third time, May is already taken over the position.
