When Politicians Talk Democracy and Brexit, They're Just Trying to Get Their Own Way

The High Court has just ruled that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – the article that will see Britain shuffling out the door of the EU party, having just smashed a pint all over the kitchen floor. This is a victory for a legal case brought by a group called "People's Challenge" – part-funded by the eccentric CEO of Pimlico Plumbers, who turned up to court in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. The judgment will delay Brexit, as Parliament will get a chance to argue over it, rather than the government just pushing everything through without a debate.

If you're a Remainer, this is one in the eye for that idiotic 52 percent of the population who got it wrong on the 23rd of June. The country's destiny is safely back in the hands of our elected representatives in Parliament, who we all totally love and trust.

For the Brexiteers, this is a smack-down against democracy from some fusty old judges, totally at odds with public opinion. How dare they derail the plan, which was that Theresa May and her cabinet were going to sort it all out without consulting Parliament. Heaven forbid someone unelected would make any decisions. It's weird: when Vote Leave was steering us off a big cliff, it was exactly because they wanted Parliamentary sovereignty. Now they're getting all pissy that Parliament will get to vote on the speed of take off.

People from both sides are making appeals to the democratic right of people to agree with them. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron welcomed the ruling, saying that "the British people voted for a departure but not for a destination, which is why what really matters is allowing them to vote again on the final deal, giving them the chance to say no to an irresponsible hard Brexit." At last people have a chance to agree with Tim Farron.

Nigel Farage, on the other hand, has warned that the "political class" that he is definitely not part of has "no idea of the level of public anger they will provoke" if they delay the driving of this bus into a large chasm. Dunno about you, but I'm kind of looking forward to riots on the streets of Frinton. Seriously, though, wouldn't it be a shame if somebody provoked some sort of mass public anger, like by running a xenophobic campaign that sent the level of racist attacks and hate speech soaring?

The context is that the referendum was just a big piece of politicking by David Cameron – an attempt to use popular sovereignty to fuck UKIP over and silence the Eurosceptic boo-boys in his own party that all went horribly wrong. And the victorious Leave campaign itself was a huge smirk at people's intelligence, telling everyone to look forward to £350 million a week more for the NHS, and then dropping that promise almost instantly after they won.

As the pernickety business of actually enacting Brexit spins out, we can expect many more politicians telling us what the people want, which will conveniently chime with whatever they believe. The whole process has so far been marked by the use of democracy to legitimise the views of two sets of politicos who have differing views on whether to treat migrants as economic units to exploit or vermin to exterminate, and how best the country can serve business and ignore its post-imperial decline.

It's all bollocks, obviously. These calls for democracy should largely be interpreted as calls for "me, me, me; do what I want to happen now please". It's all about power. The good thing is, Parliament having a say over Article 50 gives us the chance use their massive concern for what everyone thinks to try and avert catastrophe.

@SimonChilds13

More from VICE:

I Tired to Find Out What Brexit Means at Tory Conference

Why the Press Want to Stop People Like Me Talking About the Migrant Crisis

Brexit Is On, We Are Doomed