By Alicia Mortlock
This viewpoint was written as a comment on Facebook answering a Leaver posting a variant of, “We won, you lost, get over it.” Shared here with permission.
I’m not sure that anyone actually ‘won’ the referendum. I voted Remain, but understand fully why people felt that leaving will solve the issues we face. It won’t, but I guess some people prefer to read the papers rather than look at the economics.
Firstly, a referendum cannot be legally binding in this country. We were given the vote because the Tories had promised one. The thing is, we will all lose whatever happens, because it is the people who always lose. We should be united in one voice in telling all politicians that they have failed us badly. They have screwed up Brexit.
Companies are leaving the UK which means a smaller group of working people having to support those who are thrown out of work. I have argued as much with Remainers as with those who voted to leave. I understand the frustration people feel but they are blaming the EU when the issues are much closer to home and won’t be resolved by Brexit.
As a proud Remainer, I don’t believe in another vote unless it is a fair one based upon facts. I do believe there should be a moratorium and, in that space, we should look again at why people are so angry about the way the U.K. is heading. It’s largely about people feeling a lack of control over what they can spend their hard-earned money on and feeling that they no longer have access to ‘cradle to grave’ services.
Those who made it an issue of immigration are traitors to the country. All of us, started as immigrants. My family migrated from the Middle East hundreds of years ago. Yes, the movement of labour weakened the position of the trade unions and their bargaining power, but it also allowed us more opportunity too. However, we do need to accept that services such as the NHS are under threat. Not because of the free movement of labour (which has enabled us to fill jobs within the NHS), but because it is current government policy to privatise such services and offer them to the US. We won’t have ‘our’ NHS back whatever happens. And, without a properly organised Brexit, we could have lots of elderly expats returning to the country who will put an extra strain on services.
It is not about winning or losing, and I fear your hubris will be short-lived.