Time For Unity After Brexit, And For Remainers To Have Some Introspection.

Let’s start with one thing we agree on, the referendum was a mess. One side made statements that could be picked apart later with semantics in order to back away from policy, the other trotted out every famous name they could get their hands on in order to blackmail the population into copying them. The latter only served to further the feeling of alienation among middle englanders and an “us against the establishment” feeling. The truth is, neither campaign consistently looked at the depths of the EU and displayed the main arguments — the principle of liberty and democracy Vs the pragmatism that the status quo brings with stability.

The EU is not the liberal, “joined up world” and open organisation people think it is. While many bemoaned that all 17 million Leave voters were supposedly “close minded” and “xenophobic”, the truth is that the majority of the UK felt there was a need to protect the idea of a nation state. It suggests that many feel humans are at their best when there’s “Global Localism” and natural co-operatives through a free market world, rather than forced relationships and shared politics through the accident of geography (not culture, which is still key). In a time of cheap flights and Skype, the world has never looked smaller, and the time of regional trade blocs is perhaps coming to an end. Many shed tears at the thought that their country had “shunned Europe” or declared “we don’t want you lot here”. While that is certainly true of some leave voters, stats and interviews elsewhere suggest that the main concern was in fact sovereignty. See here http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36631131. The vox pops being served up by online papers are only serving to further twist the truth. Seeing videos of people state “I only voted to cause a stir, I didn’t think we’d win” or “They promised no immigration and now say they aren’t sending them back” can certainly be worrying and also infuriating, but the larger reality is much different. Polls show most leave voters (keep in mind that most aren’t fussed about immigration as a top issue) are very happy and would do it again https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/746820394217259008, this highlights that they’d accepted the huge impacts the change may initially have for the country. They’re ready for the struggle to bring the UK to what the majority of UK civilians want, which certainly isn’t some sort of insular and bigoted nation that many Twitter users like to suggest. There’s a hope that we can encourage Europe to form an alternative and loose coalition that will pave the way for them to have financial growth again rather than stagnation. Taking a hit to finance markets can spell trouble for a while, but it may be the kick needed to get a growth pattern going again. Remember, the Euro has seen many bailouts, with few countries able to produce the growth to help them out of their debts, while the Bank of England has yet to get interest rates above 0.5% for 6–7 years.

There has been plenty of complaints on social media. The echo chamber that is Twitter has culminated in one MP suggesting that democracy can be ignored altogether https://twitter.com/DavidLammy/status/746728892279431168 , while a huge part of the population has suggested a second referendum is a sound idea on the basis that the 1.7 million mandate isn’t enough https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215 . Time and time again we’ve heard that people were ‘too care free’ or ‘stupid’ the first time round. The truth is, the country is far, far away from ever being 60% on one side with 75% of the turnout. The petition was actually first set up by a Brexit supporter before the vote, and it was acknowledged as unrealistic back then. The aforementioned polls suggest a re-vote would just lead to a 52–48 split going for Remain. The second referendum would only serve to take us back to square one on a legislative level, while leaving a very frustrated general public with a bitter taste in their mouth.

The loudest of the social media remain voters need to appreciate the irony in suggesting leave voters “don’t know what they want”. After all, these are the same people that swoon over Di Caprio’s green ambitions, while the EU encourages non-local produce and large scale farming which is the single biggest greenhouse gas emitter. They’re sometimes the same people who describe “power structures”, the “patriarchy” and “big government” and like to think of themselves as the “gentle anarchists” yet scream in the event of a population voting against the idea of more government. While there were certainly good pragmatic reasons for Remain, it’s untrue to suggest the Leave result is “bigoted” and all about “Little Britain”. In reality Britain will still have immigration, will still have European holidays, and the days of mobile tariffs are going anyway thanks to Internet phone calls / texts. Beyond that, and the “utter disaster” that social media users’ Macbooks may go up in price, many that took to the internet do not have their own in depth arguments for what the EU is really all about and what a leave vote will actually mean. In fact, the continuation of such talk from social media and mass media only serves to highlight how little they’ve learned about the country. They still talk as though there is such a thing as a “wrong result” by blaming many (admittedly not all) wise elders in the nation. They’re also happy to go after the most essential workers in our nation; the plumbers, the builders and the farmers, as not intelligent enough. Those that argue the young were screwed over by the old population miss the fact that although 75% of 18–24 year olds voted Remain, only 36% of that age group even bothered to turn out, so barely a third actively endorsed the EU. The same can go for Scotland, who generally voted Remain, but turnout means that EU support was still less than half of the adult population. Apparently some people’s votes are worth more than others?

The UK needs to move on and focus on keeping itself together (a generally willing and historic cultural collaboration of 300+ years) to make things more certain and stable. Despite what the newspapers like to portray, we do actually get on quite well and can start an alliance of liberated nations — and London. The same goes for our European friends, who may join us in dismantling the EU, or may decide to form a loose collaboration that the UK will be interacting with anyhow. Political parties need to stabilize, they are only causing more uncertainty at the moment through their selfish internal bickering. Frankie Boyle sums it up perfectly — “I’m not a politician, but I’m not sure if it’s the best time to launch a Blairite coup 2 weeks before the Chilcot report comes out”. An accepted fear for Leave voters is a potential scottish departure, but many feel that the overarching principle of NOT endorsing something like the EU is too valuable. Furthermore, if Scotland does head that way, then it faces extraordinary hurdles for independence. Firstly, the Scots will only have a chance of leaving the UK if they establish that they can stay in the EU without a re-introduction, and the Spanish are ready to block that in order to prevent Catalan nationalism. Secondly, oil predictions in 2014 fell way short, and this has caused uncertainty around just how deep and strong the Scottish economy really is.

All in all, if Brexit is carried out in full Article-50-force, the UK can and should be fine. It has twice the population of Canada, and three times that of Australia. It will continue to be a first world country, and it will continue to be part of the G7. It is now up to what is a vast majority of outward looking and liberal UK citizens to carry the country forward as a liberated, sustainable and friendly country. On the other hand, we may see a refusal of any politician to carry Article 50 out, which will result in a greater mistrust of politicians among the recently democratically engaged population, and a general refusal of anyone to cooperate with anything. To be continued….