In contrast to the Tuesday celebrations outside the UK parliament in the wake of the lawmakers' rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan, the government's survival of a no-confidence motion attracted relatively few activists to London's Parliament Square on Wednesday amid uncertainty over the UK withdrawal from the European Union
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) In contrast to the Tuesday celebrations outside the UK parliament in the wake of the lawmakers' rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan, the government's survival of a no-confidence motion attracted relatively few activists to London's Parliament Square on Wednesday amid uncertainty over the UK withdrawal from the European Union.
Only small gatherings of protesters were noticed outside the parliament on Wednesday night, despite the gulf between the pro-EU and pro-Brexit camps still being evident.
On Wednesday, May's government survived the vote of no confidence triggered by the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, leaving the Conservatives clinging to power by 325 votes in support of May's policies to 306 against the cabinet.
LEFT-WING PROTESTERS SUPPORT CORBYN WITH 'ANTI-AUSTERITY' AGENDA
Although few in number, demonstrators who gathered in Parliament Square, led by left-wing eurosceptic Socialist Party, were more than vocal in their support for Corbyn, claiming a Labour-led Brexit was the only way to ensure the UK departure from the European Union was in the interests of working people.
Speaking to Sputnik about half an hour before the news on the government's survival of the no confidence vote emerged, Rob Williams, a Socialist Party member and a trade unionist, claimed that an opportunity had arisen not only to defeat the Conservative Party but to place Labour in power with an "anti-austerity" agenda.
"I'm here tonight because this is an opportunity to force a general election and get rid of the Tories, which is vital because we know that Brexit has become a divisive issue as far as working class people are concerned," Williams argued.
The politician suggested that a general election, where Corbyn could run on the basis of the anti-austerity manifesto, including policies important for ordinary people, could be a way to unite the UK citizens, abandon the governance of the Conservatives and find "the way forward."
"The establishment in this country is hated because of the financial crisis and austerity, so some saw [the 2016 Brexit referendum] as an opportunity to fight back. Jeremy Corbyn's history is of being against the European Union. If he'd led a campaign against the EU on socialist policies, then that referendum would have been far more left against right. So a big part of the tradition of the Labour and trade union movement was to oppose the European Union, not for any right-wing reason, but because it enshrines Thatcherism across Europe," Williams argued.
He insisted that even in the event of the defeat of Corbyn's motion, which was the case later on Wednesday, the prospect of building a leftist movement remained in the United Kingdom.
"A vote of no confidence in parliament is good, but it has to be met by a movement outside parliament," the politician explained.
Speaking on Brexit, Williams went on to argue that many UK nationals saw the opportunity for their country to leave the European Union as a chance to defy otherwise unpopular government policies at home. What's more, Brussels track record of imposing austerity in a number of nations, such as Greece, further exposed the bloc as an institution pitted against working class people, Williams noted, suggesting that these policies needed to be combated by left-leaning tactics.
Williams suggested that the European Union's policies had been met with criticism from ordinary people not only in the United Kingdom, but in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal, who opposed it "from an international, socialist point of view."
PRO-EU ACTIVISTS HAVE NO TRUST IN MAY
However, defiance of Brussels was by no means the only kind of politics on display in Parliament Square on Wednesday. Just across the road from the Socialist Party's banner, a small group of pro-EU activists maintained a presence, at one point visibly startling a pedestrian with their repeated and loud calls for Brexit to be suspended.
"I firmly believe we should be in the EU, we shouldn't be coming out and the referendum was fought on a pack of lies. We should have a people's vote. I don't trust Theresa May at all. She doesn't want to listen to anyone. The 48 percent who voted to Remain in the [2016] referendum have been ignored and I think she just wants Brexit at any cost just to appease people in her own party," a pro-EU activist, who introduced himself as Matt, said.
When asked about Tuesday's monumental defeat of the government's Brexit deal, the activist described the event in positive terms, although he remained notably skeptical of any attempt by the opposition to force a general election.
"Yesterday was a key moment, it needed to be done because it was the only thing that Theresa May had succeeded in uniting the country around. Neither Leave nor Remain voters were satisfied with that deal, so to have that buried is no bad thing," the campaigner explained.
However, the current situation would provoke a huge distraction among the UK nationals, he suggested, adding that more and more people realized that "they've been sold a pack of lies" and were tending to believe that the United Kingdom should remain a part of the European Union.
Despite such sentiments, May's subsequent victory in the parliament as a result of the no-confidence vote sparked concerns that the prospect of a second referendum on Brexit may have been placed further out of reach. Moreover, May wasted little time in re-affirming her commitment to exiting the European Union, arguing she was ready to begin talks with opposition leaders on how to proceed.
The prospect of a no-deal Brexit, however, remains a fearful prospect for politicians across the political spectrum. The prime minister's Brexit deal defeat on Tuesday has done little to clarify what kind of withdrawal mechanism the United Kingdom might pursue on March 29. Apart from that, the Labour's loss over its no-confidence motion sparked concerns that the chances of alternative leadership coming to the fore were minimal.
