EDITORIAL: Politicians afraid of the electorate

AFTER the repeated failures of British Prime Minister Theresa May to have the withdrawal deal she struck with the European Union ratified by her parliament at Westminster, many MPs have been baying for a general election there, yet only a few weeks ago, the majority backed a vote of confidence in her leadership as nobody wants to be passed the poisoned chalice that is Brexit.

Here in Ireland, the shared wisdom between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil under their renewed Confidence & Supply Agreement is that there should not be a general election here either until the Brexit mess is sorted, but nobody knows when that might be, given the further uncertainty and the fact that frantic preparations are going on behind the scenes in case there is a dreaded ‘no deal’ exit by Britain from the EU on March 29th.

The hope is that sensible moderate MPs from across the political divide in the UK will get together and look for an extension of time beyond that date to attempt to broker another withdrawal agreement. If there is an extension of time – say a year or more – the question will need to be asked if we really should wait any longer for a general election here as the government seems to be in a state of inertia, particularly as regards getting to grips with the health and housing crises.

Fianna Fáil is not doing the country any favours by propping up this government.