The night before Britain headed to the polls in potentially the most infamous referendum of our time, I tweeted an aggressively pro-remain message to the world which gained over 10,000 interactions. The popularity of such a tweet left me bubbling with confidence; not only had I achieved Twitter-famous status for a couple of hours, but the countless retweets and likes left me thinking that there were thousands of others who shared a similar opinion.
Even despite my best efforts to avoid the news on Friday 24th June such that it would not distract me from my Further Maths exam that same morning, I was awoken by the legendary BBC News headline chime resonating from my phone, explaining that the British people had decided by the thinnest of margins that the country would be better off outside of the European Union. I’ll skip the jibber-jabber; I was angry, and the adverse economic effects of Brexit immediately came into light. But I am not here to repeat stone-cold facts, nor am I here to express my disappointment. I am simply here to explain my top three most important things to note in light of the biggest decision of our generation.
The media must stop throwing all pro-Brexit supporters under the same bus. After the vote concluded, most of the pro-remain crowd resorted to blaming the disillusioned elderly, claiming that it was their ‘old-fashioned’, xenophobic views which led them to vote to, as Floundering Farage or Jocular Johnson would say, ‘take our country back’, a phrase frighteningly easy to confuse with the baffoon across the pond’s slogan, ‘make America great again’. While it may be true that number of Brexiteers increased as the age increased, it is important not to label them all under the same umbrella.
Wales, for example, is an example of a country which decided as a whole that Brexit was the best option; and while it may be true that many voted out of fear of immigrants and the rise in Islamic terrorism, entirely ignoring the advice of security chiefs of GCHQ, MI6 and MI5, there remained many Welsh men and women who placed their vote to leave simply as a protest against the higher powers in Westminster and Brussels pretending to allow the Welsh Government freedom yet seemingly overshadowing them and dictating their every move. Despite the country receiving such a heavy amount of EU funding, there were still those, especially on the farms and in the countryside, who believed that they had never seen a single penny of this ‘beneficial’ EU funding, despite being members of the taxpaying crowdfunding the money our Government sends over to Brussels.
Furthermore, the elderly are more aware of life before the EU in the United Kingdom, and it is probably safe to say that entering the EU in the first place was not a particularly wise decision for the country, given that I am yet to speak to anyone who believes that this is the case. For those who can remember the country beforehand, a country they thought was ‘better’, ‘stronger’ and more ‘independent’, it seems obvious that the choice would be to get the hell out of the EU and return to the ‘independent’ nation we used to be. Perhaps this was a very gullible approach to take given how much the economic climate of the world has changed since we joined, but nevertheless, it goes to show that while the vast majority of Brexiteers voted out of fear of the people who may be coming into the country, it is unfair to drag others of different opinions under the same ‘xenophobe’ label. In fact, as a whole, I believe that Brexit has shown how much fear is harvested in the British people. Be it for political, personal or logical reasons, the number of people voting to leave the EU just came to show how unhappy the British people are with the current system.
Secondly, as the vote crept closer and closer, the arguments being made on either side of the public became more and more about immigrants and terrorism and open borders etc. rather than focusing on the effects which I believe are actually relevant; trade, the economy and funding for new projects and buildings in the country. Whilst the free trade movement does involve free movement of EU residents into the country, I personally feel as though the EU argument should always have been based on the economy and trade. Despite its occasionally ludicrous laws and sanctions, the free trade movement has evolved into being one of the most vital components of business in our country, and to see it cease would, in my opinion, cause a great deal of hassle for businesses who use it frequently and put a strain on those who have been using the movement to import and export products, who will, if we do eventually trigger Article 50, have to deal with much more paperwork and fees with which they are not accustomed to dealing with.
Moreover, for those wishing to have rid of the free trade movement because of the free movement of workers involved, if the UK is to continue being a strong economic power then a future deal with the countries of the EU and maybe even the EU itself will have to be struck regardless, which heavily implies that the free movement of workers will have to be negotiated in the future either way. In my humble opinion, it seems unintelligible to think that the UK could possess the power to pick and choose what they want and don’t want from trade deals, and even more unintelligible to think that we will be able to negotiate future trade deals with the EU without giving any leeway for the movement of its workers into the country. Thus, my second note on so-called Brexit would be a resolution that must be made for the future; let’s focus on the economy from now on rather than continuing the argument over immigration, an issue which from my perspective is completely negligible.
Speaking of ‘if we do eventually trigger Article 50’, my third note is that despite the fact that the referendum is now over a month gone, I wouldn’t expect to hear the conversations about it faltering any time soon. Considering the fact that as of yet we have managed to change Prime Minister without negotiating a date for triggering the Article, it seems uncertain if and when Brexit talks will go ahead, even with Theresa May insisting that ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Moreover, with parliament holding a debate on 5th September to discuss the possibility of a second referendum supported by over four million petition-signers, only God knows when on earth the whole ordeal will come to an end. Certainly not soon, by any means. The ‘two years’ between triggering Article 50 and actually leaving the EU that vote remain supporters used to calm themselves down after the votes were counted hasn’t even begun yet, and with Theresa May looking determined to get her role in Office off to a superb start, who knows when she will even consider running the risk of finally triggering Article 50.
This is not the end, and with Brexit leading to the most right-wing cabinet of my time being put in charge of the country I adore so much, I can see signs of a changing Britain over the horizon. A fearful Britain scared of interacting with the rest of the world whose largest companies are considering emptying their headquarters and shifting them over to some other country who may not gamble with their profits so much. In such a time of personal faith loss in the people I have come to call my own, I can only remain optimistic and hope for a better future. By the words of the old man Churchill; “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
By Jordan Edwards
thelvecollective.wordpress.com 