“The starred sky above me, the moral law within me” – Theresa May and Brexit negotiations

My argument on May’s stance on Brexit is beyond what they could appreciate on radio’s broadcasts, television’ programmes and daily newspapers’ articles.  

Let’s briefly catch up with what happened so far.  

First of all, the British PM Theresa May has fixed her lame duck matter with a (mysterious) government-saving deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party.  

Secondly, negotiations had started in Brussels almost six months ago: nonetheless, by now, not much progress was made. Last July 4th, the UK had withdrawn from the European Convention on Fisheries of 1964: this is not big news, I believe Her Majesty’s Government could have gone beyond Fisheries’ accords in more than 6 months of negotiations. Also, last 24th of January the High Court had ruled out that Brexit should have been triggered by the Parliament to be legally in place. A subsequent chain of cause-effects led the British intelligentsia to debate on how it would be possible to be independent from the European Court of Justice. Hence, Brexit negotiations are in a phase of stalemate. But, why such a little progress was made so far? 

The answer certainly concerns the actual British Prime Minister.  

Theresa May’s approval as a leader is almost lost within Brits. She often appeals to an unrepresentative referendum result (remember: it is not binding) without giving the real account of it. She does not count anymore on Scotland, whose PM Nicola Sturgeon consciously announced to call for another referendum to get out from the United Kingdom. She did not send good diplomats to negotiate in Brussels but good talkers. Perhaps, Brexit is even bigger than the Conservative party, split into many but opposite sides: consensus on which kind of Brexit (hard, soft, whatever) is lost. 

I believe there is a better image to re-order these events.  

Immanuel Kant quote in this article’s heading fits perfectly Theresa May. In fact, I believe she is trapped in the Limbo of the Tories moral law (to complete their term concluding Brexit, whatever it takes). Instead, above the British PM, there is this well-known Starred Sky, for which I meant the EU (and its soon-to-be 26 starred flag): an overwhelming negotiating adversary which is in a win-win position in Brexit’ negotiations and which, apparently, has little or nothing to lose.  

In sum, May is not playing the game against the EU not only because she only pretends to keep her electoral promises, but also because she is fixed to her party-system politics, which is the only game Tories are bound to play. In a nutshell, if Brexit negotiations follow this pattern in the next months, stalemate is the only foreseeable future for the process. 

A cura di Manfredi Morello