An Englishman’s Unapologetic Analysis of the Brexit Vote

Well, let’s face it, if I don’t pass comment on this then you might question whether I am really British. If I fail to pass comment on this you might think I am actually an imposter and that I actually reside in Burkina Fasso or somewhere. Where the hell is Burkina Fasso anyway? I love the countries name but, I can resolutely deny I am a citizen of it and resolutely confirm I am a citizen of Great Britain aka The United Kingdom which is, as of now, no longer a member of The European Union.

Except, rather confusingly to some perhaps, we are.

Apparently it may take at least 2 years to actually ‘leave’ although the EU appear to be so upset at our referendum decision that they are pushing for it all to be ‘done and dusted’ as soon as possible so, quite how long it will take to actually leave as in having left as opposed to leaving whilst still being there is something of a mystery at the moment.

Before I go on, which, as you know, clearly I will – and on and on and on as, equally clearly, if you know me, I will, I would like to point out a peculiar anomaly specific to me.

For many a year I have remained a passionate ‘Brexiteer’ as those who desired to leave the EU became know. This term came from ‘Brexit’ which, of course is an amalgamation of ‘BRitain’ and ‘EXIT’.

Rumour has it that Denmark may have a referendum now as well which, I assume would be called ‘DEXIT’. Holland also is in the mix for such a thing which I assume would be ‘HEXIT’ or, as they are also known as The Netherlands, may be called ‘NEXIT’. Sweden, I am led to believe, may also hold a referendum which would have the marvellous title of ‘SEXIT’.

Anyway, those potential referendums are no more than rumour at the moment so we’ll leave them aside.

The reason I say I personally am, perhaps, rather an anomaly in regard to my belief in Britain leaving the European Union is mainly because I actually voted to remain.

Oh yes I did!

You see, my daughter and her partner are young. I am a driving instructor and all my driving students are young. I realised some time ago that the vast majority of young people wished to remain because they told me so.

Clearly they were blind to the corruption and totalitarian desires of The EU but, at the end of the day, they are young and the future is theirs not mine.

As a result of this thought process, I sacrificed my democratic right to vote to leave by voting to remain purely and simply because my daughter wanted to remain and, if my daughter wants something and I can oblige I do. That’s just me.

(I freely admit that my hand was shaking uncontrollably as I placed my ‘X’ in the remain box. I even growled quietly as I did so and my wife looked slightly alarmed at how red and angry my face had gone but, for my daughter, I will do anything)

After all, if remaining proved the correct course of action it was ‘win win’ for me and, if, as I believed, remaining would ultimately sacrifice our sovereignty and reshape Britain as a mere ‘state’ in a United States Of Europe and prove to be the disaster I believed it would be then what the hell? “I voted remain for you sweetheart. It’s your future so it’s your problem” – I really couldn’t lose on a personal level.

I tottered out of my bed at around 5 a.m. to listen to the result which, I genuinely believed, would be a fairly narrow victory for the remain campaign. I was stunned. Staggered. Aghast. Amazed. Bemused. Bewildered.

Britain had actually voted to leave The EU.

Bloody hell! I thought. We have actually done it! This thought was swiftly followed by ‘Oh eck, now what?’

You see nobody knows. Nobody has a clue what happens next. Will leaving be an economic disaster or will leaving be the best thing Britain could have done?

Dunno and, frankly, neither does anybody.

The ‘remainers’ are still forecasting doom, gloom and despondency whilst the ‘leavers’ are still insisting it is a great opportunity for Britain to be great and independent.

Buggered if I know what the future holds.

What I will say is this.

The only reason Britain even held a referendum on it’s membership of The EU is the EU. The EU began as the Common Market and Britain joined what was a ‘free trade zone’. The Common Market became the European Economic Community and Britain went along with that – it was merely understood to be a furthering of a free trade zone.

Later the EEC became the European Union. It started it’s own government and, clearly, desired complete political and monetary union throughout it’s nation states. More lately it is even considering having it’s own army!

That is when the problems, in Britain at least, started.

Britain, like other nations, had never signed up to be part of a political union and even went as far as negotiating an opt out to further political union but, as the British people knew only too well, what is negotiated today can be renegotiated tomorrow.

As a result, British people began to dislike and distrust the EU as it became a political monolith that was not required nor desired by anyone other than itself.

The EU is certainly frequently undemocratic and, as a result of the often arrogant behaviour of it’s unelected beaurocrats the British people have cried ‘ENOUGH!’

Prime Minister David Cameron has been blamed for holding the referendum in the first place. I am no fan of Cameron but his decision to do so was a victory for democracy as, regardless of the beliefs in the EU or the hatred of the EU it was clearly not an organisation the British people had voted to join in the 1970’s.

Asking them their view now was the correct thing to do democratically.

Whether their decision to leave proves good or bad matters little in many ways. The EU itself through it’s arrogance and undemocratic methods is entirely to blame for the result of the referendum.

Statistically over 75% of young people voted to remain and they are now quite angry with the older generation who voted to leave and carried the day.

I would suggest respectfully to the younger generation that they should step out of their bubble and actually look at the history of the EU. Then they might realise that it is not what it was supposed to be in the eyes of the older generation whilst, at the same time, clearly being what it had always desired to be by those who believed in full political integration.

In the early 1970’s the British people were fed a lie they wanted to believe. In 2016 the same people responded to that lie. Young people quite understandably had no knowledge nor understanding of this lie and, having known nothing other than EU membership and the benefits it brought – and membership did bring some benefits – the young people are too busy being angry at the moment to stop and sniff the coffee.

Perhaps the older generation did let them down in their eyes – although if they care to take a look at the reasons they may understand a little better why that happened – but, ultimately, it was the organisation known as The European Union that let them down. The older generation in Britain had taken quite enough of seeing their nations sovereignty slowly whittled away. The older generation had had quite enough of immigration altering their country out of all recognition – and yes, I know, over half of immigration is from outside The EU – and on the morning of July 24th 2016 the British people said “We have had enough”.

What does the future hold for us now? No idea. It is indeed a very large stride into the unknown. We are the 5th largest economy on the planet which must help our position ultimately. Yes, the stock markets went into melt down briefly and yes, the pound is bobbing up and down like a drunken sailor during The Titanic’s final moments but it is very much early days.

Over the next few months Britain can take stock of where we are now and move on from there. If we enter a massive depression the leave campaigners will say ‘oops’. If we clearly ride the storm and emerge stronger and better than ever then the remain campaigners can only say something to the effect of ‘damn it!’.

What ever happens, it is essential that the young voters who wished to remain learn to accept that, if you live in a democracy, the democratic decision taken is not always the decision you wished for. Once the decision is taken you join together again and work together to ensure the best possible outcome.

It might also help if the young voters read a bit of relatively recent history. It may well not change their views that we should have remained but it will assuredly help them to understand that the decision to leave is not the fault of the older generation, it is entirely the fault of a corrupt and undemocratic European behemoth that refused to reform itself into something acceptable to Britain, and, if there is any truth in the rumours, Denmark, Holland and Sweden too.

Jean Claude Junker – the unelected President of The EU – was asked by a British journalist whether Britain’s decision to leave The EU might signal the end of The EU.

It was a reasonable question I would suggest. A sensible response was not an unreasonable expectation. Some explanation of The EU’s position in light of Britain’s referendum was not an unreasonable expectation. Some acknowledgement of the clear failings of The EU and the necessity of reforming The EU was not, in my view, a particularly controversial topic for him to have wandered into.

His response was “No” and he walked out.

His arrogance was palpable.

That is why we voted to leave.

The blame for the referendum decision in Great Britain is fairly and squarely on The European Union itself.

Besides, I voted remain so my daughter can’t have the hump with me 😉

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