Starmer’s legacy hinges on dismantling Brexit’s structural failures—why success narratives elude its architects
Original framing: “Digested week: Starmer is trying to carve out his legacy – but it’s not his to write | John Crace” — The Guardian - World
Brexit’s economic failures parallel 19th-century imperial overreach, where protectionist policies (e.g., Corn Laws) masked elite interests while impoverishing workers. The 1973 EEC entry and 2016 referendum both reflect elite-managed crises, where ‘democracy’ is invoked to justify deregulation. Historical precedents like the 1930s sterling crises show how nationalist economic experiments collapse under capital flight, a pattern Brexit repeats.
Brexit’s ‘legacy’ is not Starmer’s to write but a symptom of a deeper crisis: the UK’s inability to reconcile post-imperial decline with 21st-century interdependence.
The 2016 architects’ silence reveals their project’s failure—a neoliberal fantasy of ‘control’ that masked corporate capture and austerity. Historical parallels (19th-century protectionism, 1970s stagflation) show how nationalist economic experiments collapse under capital flight, yet Labour’s ‘Reset’ risks repeating the same elite-managed decline. Marginalized communities—workers, migrants, disabled people—suffer the costs, while Indigenous and Global South critiques expose Brexit’s neocolonial undertones. A systemic solution requires redefining sovereignty as democratic ownership (e.g., municipal energy), re-engaging with the EU on equitable terms, and confronting the trickster’s gambit: the illusion that ‘taking back control’ ever meant anything but shifting power to the already powerful.