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As the reality of Brexit unravels some of us who voted for it are expressing concerns. We shouldn’t be surprised, argues Richard Hare of the Suffolk EU Alliance.
HAVING a re-think? Brexit not quite what you were led to believe it would be?
Don’t worry – you’re not alone.
All of us have friends and family who voted for Brexit, and with the best of intentions too. It’s therefore important that we all keep dialogue open and active. Underpinning this debate is how Brexit is going to impact on our existing prosperity. And while we monitor this on the home front we see the unwieldy EU institution reeling from the shock of three very harsh wake-up calls of its own. And there’s another coming down the line imminently, this time from Italy.
‘Brussels’ has no choice now other than to morph into a leaner, more embracing organisation, one that will serve its member states effectively into the 21st century. As to whether we British will be involved in this re-modelling, well the jury is out on that.
The close shaves of the French and Dutch general elections have shaken the EU monolith to its core. Further, German political paralysis caused by Angela Merkel’s unilateral decision on migration has returned to bite Germany, and hard. This was bound to happen. Was there a pan-European debate on her decision to allow un-fettered migration into Germany? No. Were the rest of us consulted? No.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Merkel’s decision followed in the wake of the EU’s lamentable complacency when the migration crisis commenced. Had proper reception centres been established at the outset the baton would not have been passed so carelessly to the profiteering people-traffickers, traders in human misery. To its shame Brussels told Greece – a country on its economic knees and in no shape to cope with the crisis alone – to deal with the problem unaided. The Italians were told the same.
The on-going migration crisis was, and remains, deeply unedifying. However, emphatically, this is not the template for the EU that we and many others across the continent campaign for. Given the post-referendum events in France, Germany and the Netherlands it is now well within our grasp to model a reformed and leaner European Union, the re-shaping of which the British must start to participate positively. So, no more negative and uncooperative UKIP MEPs with subversive agendas. With them batting for us, is it any wonder we’re in such a mess?
A costly own goal?
Increasingly, the referendum is looking like a costly and pointless own goal. Few of us dispute that it was an embarrassing exercise in intellectual bankruptcy on both sides. The sound-bites were ridiculous and infantile. Yet these were the cards we were dealt, the tools with which we were given to make such a defining decision that will affect us for the rest of our lives.
Soothingly, Rees-Mogg tells us we will enjoy improved prosperity through new, different, global trade deals post-Brexit that will, erm, well… appear.
Brexit, pointless?
To date there’s no sign of Rees-Mogg’s illusive trade deals. Meanwhile, Liam Fox has returned from China recently and is working on a trade deal but – so what? – we already trade heavily with China from within the EU. Office of National Statistics data for 2016 show that we imported £42 billion worth of goods from China and exported £16.8 billion. That’s considerably more than we import from France or The Netherlands. As to the US, America is by far our biggest trade partner – import (£66 billion) and export (£100 billion) – than any other country in the entire world.
And this is from within the EU.
So why are they fibbing about our need to junk our huge EU trade?
Rees-Mogg, Fox et al must surely realise now that they’re going to have to come up with something very good – fantastically good in fact. Currently, within the EU, Britain enjoys privileged trading status not just with our 27 nearby EU member countries but with 78 additional countries world-wide. Sadly, Rees-Mogg, Davis, Fox, Johnson have convinced us that they can deliver something even better.
Should we hold our breath?
How much time do they need to deliver these claimed superior deals? More to the point, how long can our industries and agriculture hang in there while they’re fiddling around re-creating a Disney-esque world of abundant prosperity for everyone that never existed in the first place?
But that’s only the half of it…
Does anyone know how much Theresa May paid Nissan to make it worth its while to remain in the UK? We think not. What we do know is that she’ll have to dole out a whole lot more soon because 48% of UK GDP is foreign direct investment (FDI). In other words almost half of our domestic product earning ‘generator’ is foreign owned. Surely, once outside the Single Market, these companies will expect compensation too if they are to remain here. They’d be mad not to. We think this alone will amount to a fair bit more than the £116 a year that each of us pays to be members of the EU.
The ‘Remain majority’:
62% of the electorate, the majority of the electorate, did not give the government its endorsement to do what it’s forcing down our throats. In terms of the population the percentage is a lot higher. Yet to listen to Brexit politicians, and also some TV and radio programme presenters who – OK, to be fair – are stimulating debate, we hear: ‘the government has an overwhelming mandate to go ahead with Brexit’. Another is: ‘over half the British public voted for Brexit’. Even David Dimbleby let slip: ‘Over half of us voted for it’.
Well that’s news to us.
This is a hoax, and one at our grandchildrens’ expense They are, as John Major stated: “The grave-diggers of Britain’s future prosperity.”
Instability in the wings?
When we’re self-booted out of the EU with few if any of the cherry-pickings that many Brexit supporters were told to anticipate, a witch-hunt will begin. It won’t be pleasant, particularly when the public realises that this government was been acting on behalf of the minority (of the electorate and population as a whole). The public will be looking for scapegoats, someone to blame, organisations to blame. Those who have delivered Brexit will inevitably be held to account.
In a recent article in The Observer Anna Soubry MP (Con) put this succinctly:
“My God. History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”
Far from being an example of ‘democracy in action’ isn’t Brexit an example of democracy corrupted?
A hollow victory, and an injustice, we believe that Brexit will inevitably become an open running sore on Great Britain, or England if England finds itself alone. This sore won’t heal because history will record that its executioners never had the moral and statistical mandate to deliver it.
Our great British landscape:
Our rural landscape is one of the finest in Europe. Fly into Gatwick or Stansted and as far as you can see there’s a patchwork of working fields, hedgerows and farm buildings. Stunningly beautiful; it employs people and puts delicious products on our plates.
But what will happen when the existing subsidies end? Michael Gove has confirmed this will happen in 2022 with glee, John Gummer in despair and anger. Devoid of a level playing field, our exports will become uncompetitive as EU farm subsidies to the UK will dry up. Meanwhile, the other European countries will continue to benefit from them. Currently over 90% of Welsh exports go to mainland Europe. Where will that now go? Burdened with trade tariffs our goods will become further discriminated against. There will be hardship and redundancies.
Consider also the amazing pig farming industry right here in Suffolk. Our farmers uphold the highest animal welfare standards and, as a result, the products they put into our butchers shops and delicatessens are second to none. All this has been achieved while we’ve been within the EU.
US farm subsidies:
Now consider: How will any of this survive when UK subsidies are cut? Remember, American agriculture is already more heavily subsidised than European farming. As a result, US products will surely under-cut ours. This, presumably, is why Theresa May is under pressure from Donald Trump to sign up to a deal, and soon.
It is no coincidence that when Michael Gove launched his post-Brexit agriculture subsidy plans in January it was based on farmers having environmental credentials, not commercial farmland. Looks impressive on the surface, but, return to your flight into Gatwick – our farmers don’t need lectures from the government on environmental protection. They do it already. So, it should come as no surprise to note who was up there on the podium with Mr Gove during his post-Brexit presentation. It was a representative from US department of agriculture.
So, bring on the flavourless, hormone and anti-biotic injected meat products, drenched in chlorine and fed on animal excrement. Let’s get it over with. We’re going to have to get used to it sooner or later. Or are our European farmers and the secondary processing agri-industries that they feed worth standing up for?
Consider also what will become of our landscape when we’re a net importer of agricultural produce. We like to present ourselves as the world’s consumer. “They need us more than we need them” we brag. Well, if nothing else it’s a boast of monstrous impotence. It’s also one that baffles most mainland Europeans who would feel a very different emotion if put in that position – embarrassment.
So, what will become of our neglected farmland, our de-valued landscape? Well, we don’t have to spell that out… It’ll be up for sale and cheap as chips.
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