DAILY MAIL COMMENT: MACRON MAYHEM A WAKE-UP CALL FOR ALL

On the cover of The Economist magazine a month after he became French president in 2017, Emmanuel Macron was memorably pictured walking on water.

Today, after his gamble to call a snap general election backfired spectacularly, this poster boy for globalist liberalism has seen his legacy sink beneath the waves.

From having a healthy majority in the National Assembly, Mr Macron has thrown it all away. His centrist Ensemble bloc is diminished, demoralised, outnumbered.

France faces the chaos of a hung parliament. The biggest party is set to be the New Popular Front – a hard-Left coalition of socialists, greens, Islamists and wokeists.

This rabble was recently denounced by Mr Macron as 'anti-democratic and pro-Russian'. Yet he urged his party to ally with these militants and oddballs to see off Marine Le Pen's hard-Right National Rally.

Her party came third despite expectations of being the largest force, having tapped into major discontent over mass migration, the cost of living crisis and the EU.

Yet still the number of seats it holds looks likely to increase. This election result should be another huge wake-up call for ruling elites across the continent.

Voters in Britain have always eschewed extremist politics, treating firebrands of the hard-Left and hard-Right with equal derision. But the populist Right is on the rise here in the shape of Reform UK.

Nigel Farage's party got 14 per cent of votes cast and five parliamentary seats. And with his TikTok-friendly campaigning, Mr Farage is attracting younger voters.

How can Labour and the Tories respond? First, they must listen to and understand the concerns of the disillusioned millions.

Tony Blair was right to tell Sir Keir Starmer he needs to tackle high immigration to stave off the surge by Reform. Meanwhile, the Tories are seeking to win back voters who jumped ship both to the Lib Dems and Reform – parties almost diametrically opposed. This will be no easy feat.

When the race to replace Rishi Sunak begins, the contenders must explain how they'd regain control of our borders. Failure by the main parties to grasp this nettle risks a further flood of voters to Reform.

That would mean the unappealing prospect of Mr Farage breaking through as Marine Le Pen did, and fragmenting British politics further into divisive factions.

 

Brexit backtracking

During the election campaign, Sir Keir Starmer couldn't have been clearer. Brexit, he said, would not be reversed by Labour.

His promise not to rejoin the single market or customs union, nor seek a return to free movement, would have persuaded lots of Leave supporters to vote for him.

But with his feet firmly under his Downing Street desk, is Sir Keir, a hardline Remainer, now set to betray their trust?

The new Prime Minister admitted yesterday that work had 'already begun' on unpicking Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

The aim is for closer ties with Brussels to facilitate trade, such as fewer food checks and aligned veterinary standards.

But the price for lowered trade barriers would be the UK signing up to a raft of EU regulations. This would see us become a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker – defeating a key objective of Brexit entirely.

Once we start bowing to the bloc again, where will it end? Surely moving back into the EU's orbit is not the answer to our economic problems. The British economy is already outperforming most of Europe.

Those are the facts. However, Sir Keir's bid to reopen Brexit is driven not by practical solutions but Remainer dogma.

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2024-07-08T00:00:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd