Warsaw, Poland. 27 June. The
causes of Brexit that I have heard thus far are as follows:
The politics of austerity, the
collapse of the Labour Party and the loss of the white working and not-so-working
class, splits in the Conservative Party, Tory grandees, David Cameron’s
political gambling, David Cameron’s ‘deal’ to the keep Britain in an unreformed
EU, English political culture, the erosion by the EU of national democracy and
sovereignty, popular demands for ever more devolution, elite demands for ever
more centralisation, the Euro, the growing gap between the Eurozone and the
non-Eurozone, the 1991 Treaty of Maastricht and the UK opt-outs, the
marginalisation by France and Germany of the UK within the EU, immigration and
the refusal of the political elite in London and Brussels to address popular concerns
over many years, the sheer pace and scale of immigration, failure to prepare
sufficient housing, schools and public services to cope with mass immigration,
refusal of Brussels to be flexible, the failure to make the case for immigration,
Commonwealth immigrants who did not like a perceived bias in favour of
migration from the EU, Jean-Claude Juncker, the 1973 lie that ‘Europe’ was only
a common market, the 1957 Treaty of Rome, a nostalgic view of English and Welsh
history, a lot of Westminster politicians, some Whitehall bureaucrats, the
Establishment in general (both British and EU) which many in England just
wanted to give a good kicking to, the collapse of political integrity
spectacularly revealed by both the Leave and Remain campaigns, Martin Schulze,
Tony Blair, George Osborne, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Corbyn, protectionism, the European Commission and interfering Eurocrats, the European
Parliament and its lack of political legitimacy, Iraq, Afghanistan, President
Obama, globalisation, blaming globalisation, the British media,
de-industrialisation, patriotism, fat cat employers, multinational
corporations, the European Court of Justice and the dictatorship of legalism,
the European Court of Human Right, because it got confused with the European
Court of Justice, ignorance, bigotry and downright prejudice, and from a personal
point of view the Eurovision bloody song contest, Sheffield Wednesday which I
blame for everything, and me because I predicted it!
As for who voted for what and for
what reasons please take your pick. However, be careful. The latest I have heard
from our Dear Leaders today is a) that the referendum should be re-run so that
the peasants can this time get the answer right; b) the referendum should be
re-run because it upset Martin Schulze who injured his fist banging a table; c)
the referendum should be re-run because the peasantry were so stupid that they ticked
the ‘leave’ box when they meant to tick the ‘an awful lot more Brussels’ box,
d) the referendum should be ignored by Parliament because Britain has a
representative democracy even if it is not very representative; and e) the EU
would like the British to pretend the referendum never actually happened at
all.
Happy days…not!
Julian Lindley-French
