Brexit – You Broke It, You Bought It

January 10th, 2021 / Leave Feedback / nezuppal

I’m not sure if many people remember where/when they were when the Brexit result was announced. I remember exactly. It was the day after we got our exam results and we decided to go out. One of my friends, who shall remain nameless, overdid it and I was forced to look after him for the night. I woke up bright and breezy and went into my friend’s living room.

I switched on the TV and saw those two famous numbers that would dominate British political discourse for the next five years of my life. 52% to 48%. (Why oh why could they not have put a 5% minimum limit on it, why?) I imagine it’s because, much like me, most people never ever expected Britain to leave the EU. I went into my friend’s room and in his sick-covered shirt he sat bolt upright, ran down the stairs and started watching the news – nearly wept. Boris’ blatant lies, Michael Gove’s muddled statements, the chilling racist undercurrent which cut through the entire campaign. The expectation that all your problems were caused by the EU and its institutions is shocking.

Essentially, as I said it would, the vote would come down to a simple question about whether people were happy with their current situation/lives or whether they were not. It is clear from that outcome that most were not. But this was after six years of Conservative rule. So is the austerity you face, the rise in foodbanks, the tripling of our national debt, joblessness, homelessness etc. Is that more down to a harsh government? Or an international unified body which has no ability to dictate a sovereign states’ laws. Obviously, the latter …?

I won’t go through a list of the lies they told you. You’ve heard them all and if you had any political nous, common sense, or a brain cell you would instantly see them for what they were, complete rubbish? I’m not a fan of James O’Brien, he does a daily talk show for LBC, but he has been consistently arguing against Brexit since the vote and has received a ridiculous amount of online hatred for it. I don’t agree with everything he says and do find him to be a bit patronising to people who may not be as educated as he is. But if you get a chance, you should definitely give him a listen.

In one portion of his show, my personal favourite, he gets a lot of angry Brexit supporters to ring in and simply say why we’ll be better off outside the EU. He asks them to specifically name one law, as I have done to my Brexit-voting kin, that they did not like obeying while in the EU. One man jokingly answered, “straight bananas” to about 10 seconds of stunned silence. Another woman seriously replied, “blue passports”, utterly seriously, and when asked whether this would improve poverty, housing, suicide rates, a crumbling NHS, people who rely on the freedom of movement – she immediately hung up.

My biggest argument for the EU had nothing to do with freedom of movement or the economy. In fact, there are certain aspects of the European Union, particularly the Commission, which I find wholly undemocratic and fundamentally disagree with. However, the creation of the European Union (technically starting as the European Economic Community ironically without Britain) has led to 65 years of peace between European nations.

This is the longest period of peace in the region in over 2,000 years. 65 years out of 2000.

It’s because it came down to immigration. Which is fine and I honestly don’t understand the problem. Being concerned about immigration affecting your livelihood etc can be a genuine problem and people admitting that can be a real step forward because then a genuine discussion can be had on the pros and cons of immigration. The problem arises when someone says they did vote on the basis of immigration and immediately get called a racist, shutting down the argument and making the debate even more controversial.

A lot of Brexit voters said there would be no delay in organising a deal because the EU needs us as much as we need them. When will this Dunkirk/Blitz spirit end? We are not the country that once controlled 3/4 of the globe. We are a country run by an unelected blonde fool who is being run by an even bigger unelected blonde fool. European countries look upon us a joke. Believe it.