Evan Ng
7 June 2022
A Zig-zag pattern.
Tense voting environment with regards to leaving Customs Union and Single Market. Left is “Aye”, right is “No”.
The House of Commons tackled the topic of the UK’s relationship with the EU earlier today in the first council session. The repetitive session that took so long it cut into break-time revolved around the two major political parties’ views on the topic. Namely, the Conservative Party believe in leaving the Customs Union (CU) and Single Market (SM), whereas the Labour Party disagrees severely.
The Labour Party’s reasoning behind the mindset against leaving the CU and SM derives from their understanding that the EU contributes gravely to their economy. Should they leave the CU and SM, they would risk losing the majority of their trade exports and imports – considering the EU is their greatest trade partner. Over 40% of the UK’s trade stems from the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, has continued to develop their motivation behind their actions – the UK should not leave what it has taken years to build in a futile attempt to be internally independent. The CU and SM have given the UK their economic prosperity. Maintaining close relations with the EU is especially important during these trying times. They’ve even gone so far as to come up with desirable solutions – to give the EU what they want while giving the UK what they want. These include finding common ground toward agricultural benefits and going to the World Trade Organisation to further expand trade.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party’s stance is not quite so crystal clear. Jeremy Hunt, Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party, has mentioned desire to fight for worker’s rights in the UK and upholding her environmental standards. Theresa May, Prime Minister, has maintained her stance accurately. “The EU will not agree with the UK staying in the CU for the UK’s benefit alone.”
However, the council’s progress is stagnant. No real developments are being made.
“We’ve debated this already,” Tom Watson lamented. “I advise the conservative party members to open up their ears. We must unite this parliament so divided that any proposed bill is rejected immediately.”
“Screw the Conservative Party,” quotes Corbyn. “They’re contradicting each other. Theresa herself expressed her frustration at her member of parliament contradicting her words.”
The council humorously emulates a Zigzag. The Labour Party and Conservative Party tackle more and more subdivisions of the question at hand, yet they never seem to progress beyond shallow repetition and voting for the sake of voting.