The Battle for Brexit Is Now Truly Underway
This September 2018 post by Diane James MEP reflects on the state of the Brexit talks after a summit in Salzburg. It is opinion writing, and the claims below are hers, not independently checked.
Stalemate in the talks
Her starting point is frustration. More than two years had passed since the government received a mandate to leave, she wrote, yet negotiations had produced little beyond a standoff. In her telling, London made offers and Brussels turned each one down, sending the UK team back to the start.
The case that the Remain side never stopped
She argues that parts of the UK establishment hoped to win a second vote and overturn the first, and that this had been the plan since the referendum. She walks through the stages as she saw them.
- The court challenge. A legal case delayed matters but made Parliament vote on triggering Article 50. In her account that vote went heavily for Leave, with 498 MPs in favour and 114 against.
- Campaign spending. Questions were raised over whether Vote Leave had broken the rules. She accepts that the official figures showed Leave spending about a million pounds more than Remain, and that Vote Leave was fined, but notes that two pro-Remain groups, the Liberal Democrats and the Europe Movement, were also fined with less press attention. She adds that the government spent close to £10 million on a leaflet urging a Remain vote, and says that once this is counted Remain outspent Leave by about fifty per cent, or £8 million.
- Media coverage. She describes continuing pro-Remain commentary in major national newspapers and refers to an evening paper edited by a former Chancellor.
Funding and influence
The post then turns to who paid for the Remain campaign. She says its largest donors included American investment banks, former senior bankers, a well-known airline and travel brand and figures close to David Cameron. Such people, she argues, are skilled at using press offices and media access to pursue their interests. She also claims that seventeen unions, student bodies, business groups and charities that voiced pro-EU positions had together received 160 million euros from the European Commission over a decade.
Calls for a new vote
She also lists voices she considers part of the same push: trades unions, student bodies, business groups and charities. The post presents these as evidence of a coordinated effort, a characterisation others dispute.
Her conclusion
The piece ends with a stark choice: back democracy and Brexit, or risk becoming the instrument of multinational firms and wealthy individuals trying to block the outcome of the vote.
Readers should note that the funding and media claims are the author’s assertions. The Electoral Commission’s published findings and independent reporting give a fuller picture.
