With Tories in power Brexit would be meaningless









As has been mentioned in previous article , Brexit could play a much more critical role in the future course of Europe, apart from being treated just as a result of national pride - wounded Britons alarmed by the sirens of patriotism.





While the Brussels-Berlin axis will seek to implement all the conditions of the Greek experiment inside the EU, the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn could become an example against this dark future. While the Greek PM, Alexis Tsipras, suffered a heavy defeat as went unprepared in the battle with the ruthless neoliberal priesthood, Corbyn should go to the battle with the neoliberal regime after a good preparation and a well-constructed plan.





Costas Lapavitsas explains why only outside the EU, the UK will have a chance to turn left - with a Labour government under the Corbyn leadership - in order to implement progressive policies for the benefit of the vast majority:





The European Union has become a hardened, entrenched set of institutions defending neoliberalism. In Europe these institutions centered on the single market and the single currency, the euro. Combined, together, they ensure that neoliberal policies dominate the European Union, individual countries, and the union as a whole.





On top of that, what you also have, is the prevalence of neoliberal ideology. Not just the institutions and mechanisms, but also ideology - the prevalence of this ideology, across the institutions. Particularly the main decision-making institutions, which together with the practice of these institutions ensure neoliberal dominance across the union.





It’s obvious that the notion that this structure could be mobilized in the interests of working people in Europe is absurd. There’s no other word to describe it.





Britain, in a sense, has always been semi-detached from the rest of the European Union. But even so, it demonstrates the ability of the European Union to impose restrictive measures on not just progressive government or left-wing government; on any government.





In the case of Britain, there is no Corbyn government - although I hope and wish that there will be one and soon if this country is to go anywhere, because it’s not going anywhere at all at the moment. Obviously, such a government will not be subject to the limitations and framework and institutions of the Monetary Union, because luckily for Britain, it is not a member of the Monetary Union. But it will still be constrained by the mechanisms, practices and regulations of the European Union.





The rules and regulations of the European Union on these things (state aid and public procurement), are very very restricted, thoroughly neoliberal, and would stop a radical Corbyn government from affecting the kind of changes it wishes to affect.





Some people hastily come out and say, ‘Oh, the European Union doesn’t stop us from doing anything.’ They are wrong, because any kind of radical change such as Britain needs and such as we would like to see - in terms of changing the social structure of this country and supporting the poor, the working class and so on - would require decisive measures of state aid and public procurement to support productive jobs. And that would be stopped by the European Union, no doubt as well of that.





The European Union, at the moment, represents the most blatant bypassing of democracy that we’ve seen in advanced, developed capitalist countries in decades. And it does that by using precisely those institutions that presumably the left will change. It bypasses democracy and it bypasses the democratic will, as that is expressed through elections, in the most rigid, thorough and systematic way. And it does that because the regulations of the institutions allow it to do so.





The same goes for parliament, and the same goes for all other decision-making institutions. Those who think that you can march through these institutions and effect change, either don’t understand how the institutions work, or they’re not honest to people when they tell them that they can change them. You can’t change them. You can only break those institutions, smash them. Rupturing those institutions is the answer if you want progressive, radical policies in Europe.







With Tories in power, even after a definite Brexit, we should not expect much of change for the British people. That's because the conservative right has been taken over completely by the neoliberal doctrine, already since the 70s and 80s in the motherlands of neoliberalism: the US and the UK. The Tories have nothing to offer apart from the typical neoliberal policies that the EU dictates to the member-states. That's all they know and they are 100% devoted to this political perception.





On the contrary, a Labour government under the Corbyn leadership after Brexit will be much more flexible to apply progressive policies that will benefit most of the Britons. Of course, with UK's power structure and the elites still in an advantageous position - after decades of policies that limited the power of state institutions - it will not be a piece of cake. Yet, without the additional tight scrutiny of the EU neoliberal monster, it will be much easier.



