As the United States continues to reckon with the fallout of the 2020 election and Great Britain awaits a new prime minister after Boris Johnson’s resignation, two members of the British Parliament concluded their visit to the Capital Region over the weekend.
After first arriving in Washington D.C., last week, Labour Party M-Ps Justin Madder and Daniel Zeichner joined Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko on a trip north to tour the Capital Region as part of a State Department-arranged visit.
Zeichner raved about the train ride along the Hudson.
“The trip along the river yesterday, it was wonderful for me. Little I know of your country has probably come from Robert Caro’s books and seeing all those bridges, I'd read about them, but to see them just quite incredible. In U.K., we talk about building bridges, we don't do it. Whereas, you guys seem to do it. So, I know that there was some problems around that as well in the past, but it is incredibly impressive, but so beautiful.”
Tonko says along with the tour of the region, the three lawmakers also discussed climate change amid a record breaking heat wave. Tonko says they toured the nation’s capital in electric vehicles – adding the MPs didn’t drive because they were worried about which side of the street they should drive on.
“We had a good time doing that and then visited with a company from Michigan that is developing a portable standalone grid that can help with immense charging for a lot of these situations with public transit, school buses and the like. And their versions of heavier fleets, vehicles that groups like Verizon or Amazon might utilize, a bigger cab that are EV powered and a number of heavier vehicles that they're working on.”
MP Justin Madder says climate change is less politicized in the United Kingdom.
“What we saw this week was really a step change in terms of how it's impacting people on a day-to-day basis. But, I think that that most of the public - I would say the vast majority of the public - are very committed and aware of the challenges that climate change faces. There isn't the same political divide, I think, between the major parties.”
Zeichner says he is not as optimistic as his fellow MP.
“People are complaining about the heat, but I'm not sure they're necessarily making the connection to what we now need to do to tackle this, because we're late. We're late to tackling it. There's no two ways about it: in the U.K. we've had a wasted decade when the current government chose not to do some of the things that they could have done. So, we're playing catchup.”
Speaking to reporters in Albany on Friday, the MPs discussed other challenges the two countries face, such as enduring a period of political instability and change. Prime Minster Johnson resigned earlier this month facing political pressure after a series of scandals. The U.K. is currently going through the process to replace him. And, of course, the U.S. is still dealing with the aftermath of 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Both MPs recalled watching, along with the rest of the world, the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
“We were able to watch in real time what was happening in horror, absolute horror, that a country that for all our lives has been a beacon of democracy and hope around the world, was facing these challenges. Of course, all democracies rely on goodwill and the smooth exchange of power and for a period it looked like that was that was being threatened. But, as we know, thankfully, that didn't happen and your democracy, I think, will be strengthened from it. Because, you will reflect on how that situation arose, how the various pillars of the state were able to prevent it (from) getting even worse than it did and how, eventually, there was a smooth transfer of power. And every democracy has that question, because the losing candidate has to hand over and accept the results. It's something that, for us, we just wouldn't contemplate not accepting the results. But, actually just reminds us that it all depends on that goodwill.”
Zeichner says political extremism and polarization are on the rise across the globe.
“We were shocked, genuinely shocked at what we were seeing, as I'm sure people were here. And I think a bit frightened, frankly. The U.K. used to be considered a very stable country, but we've been through Brexit and that has highlighted divisions probably not dissimilar - in some ways, we've become a much more polarized country – as I think we're hearing has happened here. But, seeing people that angry, seeing violence in that kind of way and also seeing an institution which is clearly revered. We had a wonderful tour of the Capitol the other night and it came across to me just how proud people are of that institution. To then have other people apparently trashing it felt very, very unsettling to many people. I think, probably, to everybody, frankly, in the U.K.”
He also noted the current struggles facing the United Kingdom.
“I'd also echo the points though about the future of our democracies. We've had challenges, you've had challenges. It was interesting to us to hear many of the things when we were given a brilliant tour of the Capitol. You've got a long tradition in terms of your constitutional structures. In the U.K., much of ours isn't written down, which is a bit of a challenge and a test and we're having to rethink how our democracy works. Because, it's struggling at the moment and keeping people's faith in democracy is really, really important to us.”
Tonko recalled being in the gallery on January 6th.
“I think it's fair to say that we as two very strong democracies, hold the hope out there for freedom-loving nations around the world, they get to see this test. They see us going through this process - and I shared with our guests that I was in the gallery the day of the insurrection and we were the last to be evacuated. We witnessed from the bird's eye view of the third floor, looked into the House chamber on the second floor and saw everyone being evacuated. And then we could hear all the sounds and the rumblings outside those gallery doors. And I thought, ‘My gosh, if they break those open, it's curtains.’ So, it was very frightening.”
The lawmakers spoke to reporters a day after the House Committee investigating January 6 held its last scheduled hearing of the summer. Even after the turmoil, Tonko says he remains hopeful for the country.
“I'm convinced the truth will conquer. It will rise and that is, I think, the benefit of the January 6th Committee. To look through (the evidence) and connect the dots and put together the story of it all, so that we know what did and did not happen. It's very important a democracy cleanses itself. It has that power to go revisit and correct or improve a situation.”
