It would be nice if everyone stopped for a moment and listened to each other to take stock of what is really motivating those people around them. They might be surprised.
My campaign for Brexit, in my own little corner of Cambridgeshire, is born entirely out of a vision which has democracy at its heart. Our children deserve a shot at a future and I want that future to be free. EU membership is not freedom, is not democratic and it will swallow us up over time.
- It's not racist - I want to see immigration to the UK from across the globe. Immigration is what has made our country the wonderful and diverse place it is today. That must continue. That is not what we are fighting here. The immigration debate is about managing it so that our country is not crippled by years more austerity measures and sky high taxes as we struggle to keep up with the cost of open borders within the EU. I don't want to see any country crippled by immigration. Brits in Greece or Eastern Europeans in Britain. Free movement of people is simply not economically viable for any of us.
- It's not born out of a superiority complex - I want to see freedom for Greece, Italy, Spain and all of those who are unable to rebuild their economies whilst the EU retains its hold. I don't just believe that the EU is wrong for Great Britain. I believe it is wrong full stop. It is destroying its member states. Youth unemployment is off the scale across the EU, currencies were devalued overnight as member states were convinced to join the Euro and economic growth is a thing of the past. I want to see Italy, Greece and Spain becoming synonymous with their strengths again and not bankrupt and beholden to the EU.
- It is not about just thinking that the grass is always greener - It is about a deep rooted belief that without the fundamental principles of democracy underpinning our society then we are giving up all that we have fought for and built. Our successes now are in spite of the EU, not because of it. The Remain campaign would have us believe that, without EU membership, our people would have no holiday, sick pay, maternity leave or rights. Our society advanced pretty well before the EU and I am certain that it would continue to do so afterwards.
The idealised EU that the Remain campaign talks of, with a prosperous trading bloc, is simply not the EU that has taken shape. Never has there been less opportunity for young people in Spain, Italy, Greece etc. In peacetime, this level of economic gloom and unemployment is not acceptable. Are we just scared of going it alone because, from where I'm sitting, the future is not bright and I can't work out why we'd stay?
I read a bit about the VW scandal recently. Some 25,000 EU lobbyists work under the radar to influence Brussels to line the pockets of European businesses at the expense of the environment and what's right (this was a case in point). We can do nothing about this engrained corruption and that's not democracy.
The EU will not reform. Our best chance at securing reform was with a possible Brexit looming and we failed spectacularly with the most valuable bargaining chip that there was, right there in our hands. That should tell us all we need to know about our influence within this organisation.
I say that now is the time to be brave and to believe in our ability to create a bright future for our country, together and democratically, and not just to make do with what we misguidedly see as the safe option.
"People who have prospered under a given social system may be unable to imagine the perspective of those it has failed." ~ Michel Houellebecq
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