We joined a trading bloc in 1975. By 1980 over 60% of the public polled wanted to leave it. Their concerns were ignored and instead over time, sovereignty was surrendered to what is now political project without our consent. It is criminal take real power is given away to a foreign body without the people having a say. We was told all along to buckle up and enjoy the ride but not all of us are. Euro-sceptics had to campaign for 35 years to get a referendum. One we wouldn’t have got had David Cameron believed that he would have been able to form a majority government without the Liberal Democrats.
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If we had voted to remain and 10 years down the line, it really isn’t working for the UK, it would have been impossible to leave. We would have been so integrated with the EU, that it really would have been a case of “Leave the EU and you’ll have no food or electricity.” - and the people would have believed it, because it would have been true. Older people have seen the direction it’s been going in and having been complaining for decades about that direction. Opt outs of the Euro were not enough, we believed over time with deeper integration our country would have been strong-armed into it.
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Immigration and freedom of movement. Immigration thanks to freedom of movement is great for the middle classes, but a nightmare for the working classes.
It means cheaper au-pairs, plumbers, electricians and handy men. All of those stocks and shares the middle classes hold in their pensions, ISAs and straight out direct stockbroker accounts were booming because corporations love freedom of movement.
The UK’s middle classes are more likely to have qualifications that are in demand within the Eurozone, so less bureaucracy to land that job that they had a good chance of getting anyway. Some young Brits work in the Eurozone in non professional jobs, but most of them will be employed catering to the UK tourist industry.
For every 2 EU citizens living in the UK, there’s one Brit who’s living in the EU. The Brit is more likely to either be a professional or in retirement, bringing their wealth with them.
We in the UK are taking in a larger proportion of people who are unskilled or semi-skilled EU citizens. I don’t blame them for coming here. Of course they are going to come here, unemployment in many EU countries is higher than the UK.
All of that is pushing down wages on the lower end. It’s a double negative for working class people, while being a double positive for middle class people who prefer to be more mobile to chase those lucrative jobs.
Considering that key marginal seats in the country are middle class, is it any wonder that all 3 main parties fighting for middle class interests like lions?
- Democracy and Transparency.
The Commission is appointed, with just 28 people having oversight on the legislation with vastly unequal representation.
Luxembourg with a population of just shy of 600,000 has Jean-Claude Juncker as President.
It is true that the European Council sets the direction of the EU but it’s the European Commission that draws up the legislation and negotiates the trade deals. The role of the European Parliament is to rubber stamp or reject such legislation.
After 45 years, it clearly doesn’t work. We’re sick and tired of being told it can be reformed for a bunch of Eurocrats to tell us that the way to solve it is MORE of what we don’t want. More expansion, more integration and more sovereignty being given up by member states.
But hey it’s all very good for the corporate lobbyists. No longer do they need to lobby in 28 countries, they are all in Brussels now. And that is what is so dangerous.
Corporate Europe is so close to the EU, they are well embedded into the Brussels social scene. They eat in the same restaurants, get drunk in the same bars…and all of it is a different world than that European tax payers live in.
We took back control. It can all be done in Westminster now. If we don’t like the job they do, we can vote different people in and those manifestos will actually mean something again.
- Trade deals
We can invoke the WTOs Article 24 with the EU and simply do our own trade deals. New Zealand was in a similar situation when we joined the EU. They are still here and have prospered.
We can be sure that trade deals that we strike are in the interests of our country and even more importantly, we can be sure they benefit poorer people in our country rather than pandering to headline figures about GDP.
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Our trade with the rest of the world is growing while our trade with the EU is decreasing in percentage terms.
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Economies across Europe are different. Trade and monetary policy cannot possibly be in the interests of 28 member states. Some countries will win, some countries will lose.
Some countries need a strong Euro, others need a week Euro.
- Centralisation of power is bad
The centralisation of power has always been a bad thing.
Regardless of individual intent, the system encourages people to be corrupt. People doing well out of the whole thing tend not to listen to those that aren’t. The more power someone has, so as is the chances of tyranny. You only need to see what is happening in China to understand that.
- British law for British interests should rule supreme.
This allows us to regulate our own economy in our own interests.
- The wealthy own land and they benefit
70% of the land in the UK is owned by fewer than 6000 people. Rather than paying taxes they are being subsidized … with our own money. 40% of the EU budget goes to CAP and most of the money is ending up in the hands of some very wealthy people indeed. You know, the likes of Lord Hesiltine.
- Fishing
We had the largest fishing fleet in Europe and now it’s next to nothing. Don’t talk to me about fishermen selling their fishing rights – most did that to avoid bankruptcy.
No one has pretended this would be easy. No one said it would instantly turn the country’s fortunes around.
We was told it is a “Once in a generation vote.” - We’ve voted to go in a different direction to the EU.
Leaving the EU was never going to be a silver bullet. It doesn’t solve many problems but unless we leave, the long suffering working classes simply don’t see any mechanisms that can ever be built that will even start to solve their problems.
It really was a working class revolt. Either the middle classes don’t understand working class folk, or they do understand working class, but are really pulling out the stops to have us wiped out.
I’ll answer your question concerning the banking crisis tomorrow or Tuesday. There’s only so many hours in the day.