Labour peer Helena Kennedy: Brexit a result of English nationalism

Baroness Helena Kennedy has said the "erosion of law" is being seen across the world, as well as the UK.

Labour peer Helena Kennedy has said the rise of English nationalism and Brexit has created "a dark time" for British politics, and has blamed it on a failure of the neo-liberal politics which stem from the Thatcher years.

The Glasgow-born barrister, an expert in human rights law, said the world is witnessing an "erosion of the rule of law" as a result of the "politics of the hard man".

She said that Brexit was a "dishonest" hard right project to take apart the fundamentals which create a decent society, disguised in a flag.

Baroness Kennedy, who is appearing at the Festival of Politics at the Scottish Parliament this evening, said: "The country is going through a crisis of English nationalism, because that is what all this Brexit stuff is about. There's a desperate thrashing around to have a sense of what that means and it's expressing itself in a very divisive form of politics - these are dark times."

Asked where she thought the crisis stemmed from, she said: "It's the economic model we've been living with. In the 1980s economics was reshaped and as far as I'm concerned this was a long game for the hard right.

"Neo-liberal economics took hold inside politics, and inside the banks, including the World Bank, the IMF, the ECB - the whole system. The model is about small state, low taxation and a limited welfare state, basically reducing all the things that are so important, I think, to a decent society."

She added: "Of course they couldn't go as far as they wanted because we were in the EU which has meant a strong regulatory framework to maintain high standards in relation to medicines, chemicals, environment and workers rights and so many other things.

"But the alt and hard right want total de-regulation. This is what this Brexit project is and it's a form of politics we should be anxious about because it's really not going to play out well for most ordinary folk.

"It's all about driving down the areas of life which are fundamental to a decent society. And the problem is it's been wrapped in a flag which is so dishonest - saying it's about delivering power to people, that "we're there for you", when they are absolutely not. We just need to follow the money.

"It's not just nationally of course - a lot of my work is international and we're seeing an erosion of the rule of law all over the world. Look at Trump in the US, Orban in Hungary, look at Poland and the mess in Italy. It's the politics of the hard man. And Boris Johnson is attempting the same, though he's just a pale imitation of Trump.

"Dominic Cummings is another one who hates institutions and wants to tear everything down, who believe from the ashes we can re-grow things. Well no, too many people get crushed in that."

She said that the judges in