Protesters continue to fight for democracy, but only a Final Say will restore it

Editorial: The solution for a nation so divided is to put the question to the people again – no deal or no Brexit?

The hundreds of thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the UK in recent days have at least one thing in common with the brave demonstrators in Hong Kong – a belief in democracy, and a preparedness to use direct action to preserve it.

It is that faith in our parliamentary system, as much as the European cause, that has ignited these actions. The Johnson government has shown itself to be ruthless in its pursuit of a no-deal Brexit, including the unconstitutional suspension of parliament.

Ostensibly the no-deal policy is merely a negotiating ploy, designed to terrify the European Union into offering concessions it cannot make on the Irish backstop. Short of sacrificing the integrity of the single market and throwing Ireland under the proverbial bus, the EU cannot invest its future in vague “alternative arrangements”, even if it wanted to. Compromise is one thing, but London should understand that Brussels cannot compromise with reality.

Thus no deal becomes a realistic outcome because the deal Boris Johnson seeks is impossible to achieve with the present technologies for border controls.

There are also people within government who would actively welcome a no-deal Brexit, just as Nigel Farage has been urging. All the while, parliament is being prevented from making any meaningful intervention, and British parliamentary democracy is being suspended for the duration, in effect. That is why this is such a dangerous game, and that is why the protests and the resistance can only grow in the coming weeks.

The danger of mass protests turning into disorder is real. It is also inevitable if the usual processes of political debate and pressure have been closed down, or so stymied as to render them useless.

No doubt there are those who believe so devoutly in their (selective) reading of the 2016 referendum result that they regard parliamentarians – mere “politicians” is the favoured term – as “enemies of the people”. To them, suspending the House of Commons is simply about the prime minister (also a mere politician as it happens) carrying out the will of the people. In effect they are content with the erosion of democratic debate.

They are wrong but sincere – and often just as passionate as fellow citizens. They, if not their views, deserve respect too. They have yet to prove that a majority of the 17.4 million voters believed they were necessarily opting for a no-deal Brexit, rather than the various softer versions bandied around during the campaign.

Parliament may still have sufficient time to make some impact on the process, and it obviously has a right to be given the time to make its voice heard and for ministers to be accountable and to legislate to stop a no-deal Brexit. But it is also true that the Commons has shown itself as divided as the nation as a whole over what it actually does want. The solution, the best of a range of unpalatable options, for a nation so divided is to put the question to the people again – no deal or no Brexit? It would now be a clear and binary choice, and one that would yield an unequivocal decision based on more than three years of intense argument.

In truth, not so much has changed since Mr Johnson wangled his way into No 10. The fundamentals remain more or less where Theresa May left them. The only positive thing to say about the Johnson government’s approach is that it is tearing to destruction the hard Brexiteers’ argument that all that was needed to succeed was positive energy, a belief in Britain and the threat of no deal.

Brexit is still collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions, and Britain is headed for economic catastrophe and a hard collision with the realities of international power politics. If we are going there, it would be better to have the support and informed consent of the people. Like the MPs, the British people need to vote on it.