Brexit Stage Right
- Arron Blake
- Jan 7, 2019
- 3 min read
It’s almost poetic that within 2 years of the 1975 Referendum to join the European Union, the Sex Pistols released punk anthem ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Given the fall out following the 2016 vote to leave, it seems we have descended into the chaos inferred to in the song during the same time frame.
I wrote the following the day after the referendum result; unfiltered, unedited and a product of 2 hours sleep and it is still as harrowing as I feared.
Whilst I had misjudged the impact on the economy, the sad truth is we still have little to no idea where this is going, even with beleaguered Theresa May’s deal being agreed. The main culprits; Cameron, Johnson and Farage are now out of the picture, and wouldn’t have felt the collapse anyway.
Those pushing through to leave ‘no matter what the deal’ reminds me of the man who set fire to his Nike trainers, in anger, whilst still wearing them for the endorsement of heroic sportsman Colin Kaepernick (who’s kneeling during the National Anthem protesting Police brutality against African American’s continue to leave him without a team). Get the outcome, even if it means certain pain.
No part of the ballot said it would be a no deal Brexit, no part of the ballot said to limit immigration, no part of the ballot stated we would do anything other than leave, these are all phrases and ideas pushed by the papers and as we have freedom of the press, no headline should be used as anything other than a basic guide on what the public should expect to be considered in a manifesto. “Brexiteers” must understand this. The choice was deliberately ambiguous. Contemporary polling evidence, conducted by The Independent in June 2017, displays that 73% of the leave vote was primarily about immigration; that in total is roughly 38% of the actual vote, is that enough to justify pulling out of the customs union? However, just because there are polls in remain and leave leaning articles, it doesn’t make it any more enforceable as law. Circumstances affect the outcome. As an example, the Liberal Democrats vowed to end tuition fees should they have been elected in 2010. When they got power, in form of a coalition, they voted to increase them at a massive cost to themselves. Politics is murky and must constantly evolve as to how a ruling government sees to fit in with society needs, sometimes promises and pledges cannot be fulfilled no matter how good or genuine they seem.
Having had the fortune to travel to 4 European capitals this year; Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Dublin with no visas, European health insurance and zero animosity, i’ve seen first hand the benefits the EU bring. Freedom, Culture and Unity. We are part of a current global cauldron of fear and hate, with a bigger nemesis, Climate Change, looming ever closer on the horizon. Standing and working together is a better solution and fixing the problems is a far more progressive step than turning your back on them, even if more difficult. To quote President John F. Kennedy, “We choose to …. do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”
The actual deal is a failure, but the EU was never intending to negotiate a success, a good deal for Britain could mean a good deal for France or Italy or whomever sees the “benefits” of leaving, and they were aided by a bumbling Tory government with a directionless agenda allowing them to constantly stay on the higher ground despite the pathetic grandstanding on our side. It’s regretful that the only way to have gotten a worth while agreement was to have left immediately, forcing the EU hands, and, as described above, would have potentially been disastrous, but that would have required a prior plan, a balance of fearlessness and recklessness and, most importantly, an expectation that leave was going to win.
I can only hope that this flailing government listens to the 750,000 plus who marched for a People’s Vote now the deal has been revealed. We can then finally let this settle. It isn’t undemocratic to challenge the results, it is to suppress the public voice.
Comments