EARLY ONE MORNING.........................
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Stansted North on Uttlesford District Council and former Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Learn more
by Alan Dean on 9 July, 2016
Well, I guess I’m off to Siberia or Outer Mongolia by Christmas as wannabe prime minister Andrea (Mother) Leadsom calls for pessimists to be banished. She doesn’t say how long the banishment or exile will last, but I expect it will last longer than 6 months; so bang goes my council seat on Uttlesford.
I’m not going to pretend to being an optimist about the UK’s self-ejection from the EU. I’m not sure how far my pension will go in these remote places now that the pound sterling is the worst performing currency in the world; worse than the Argentinian peso.
Mother Leadsom and her Brexit erstwhile follower Boris Heretodaygonetomorrow Johnson say they are optimistic about the future for this country. Which country do they mean? Today’s United Kingdom or a diminished England with (maybe) Wales, given the uncertainties over the borders of Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The saddest thing is that the referendum of two weeks ago was won on a wave of anger; not just from people who have felt marginalised and had not voted for years, but also from many who have been regular voters. Each knows his or her own motives; they are not for me to second guess. But the anger at the EU has turned into anger against anyone who voted to remain in the EU and dares to admit it.
Since June 23rd local friends have suffered from their Continental (we are all European) partners being told to go home in nasty tones. Attacks from Brexitters on local Facebook pages have been vicious. One Leave voter posted reasons for that decision, but anyone who countered with their reasons for voting Remain were told to shut up – and worse – because the Leavers had won!
“Sour grapes (from) left wing lunatics (who) keep vomiting their resentment at being beaten by democracy” was the latest on Twitter last night.
I’ve no intention of being bullied into staying quiet. Here’s Ian Hislop putting the case on BBC 1 Question Time on Thursday.
The Lib Dems say they will fight the next General Election, depending on when it is, on putting the case for remaining or rejoining. Who knows when the GE will be? Who knows where the UK will have got to negotiating a new deal? What is certain is years of uncertainty.
So next stop The Man in Seat 61 for the Transiberian Express. At least that brings a smile 🙂
4 Comments
The next general election will be in 2020. Why certain individuals are so determined to ignore the Parliamentary Fixed Term Act is ample witness to their contempt for democracy (and the Lib Dems were part of the administration that introduced the fixed term)
Once again my prediction on the Brexit result was more accurate than experienced ex-colleagues (though to find Rolfe on the wrong side of any argument is hardly surprising)
I won’t repeat my call for Remain proponents to show a little integrity and resign, the prospect of their whining mea culpas is too depressing and integrity is in short supply at UDC if not entirely absent.
I suppose the next spectacular misjudgement from Rolfe will be another failed local plan. When are Alan and the R4U amateurs going to recognise the obvious and disassociate themselves from the local plan working group?
Dark forces are at work in the UK, the USA and many other countries. Trump wants to “make America Great” by turning the US into an inward looking, intolerant state and by breading hate against his opponent. A majority of US voters will probably reject that approach.
In the UK the Brexit vote has split the country down the middle. The Brexiteers, who have whinged about the EU for forty years, are now attempting to silence the other half of the population who believe in close partnership with our Continental neighbours and who will not be silenced by the dark forces and authoritarianism that have arisen on a wave of triumphalism from the narrow referendum vote. Time will tell whether Johnson, Davies and Fox can deliver for the PM a coherent outcome that satisfies the popular cry of despair for “making Britain great again”; and whether reality matches their false promises and untruths. Early indications are not good.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats will stay true to their belief that the EU, with all its flaws, represents a better path to peace and prosperity when they meet in Great Dunmow today to consider where Uttlesford and the country goes from here. What I want to see is a message of hope for those many people who voted Leave out of frustration with the way they feel society has treated them badly. There has never been a time in my lifetime when leadership of hope and cooperation was needed to counter fear and despair.
Curious to note that virtually every dire prediction made by the likes of Osborne and the ‘expert’ economists, financiers and sundry snake-oil salesmen have turned out to be wrong.
Employment, investment, the FTSE, consumer spending all seem to be performing well.
And of course one immediate benefit of the vote to leave the EU was getting shot of the spiv Cameron and his dullard colleague (didn’t see that one coming did you Gideon?)
As to the posturing of clowns like Junker and his gravy-train chums, shortly they will be unable to inflict their idiocies on this country.
It is difficult to have anything beyond contempt for the EU. What have they done about the refugee/migrant crisis? What about the devastating unemployment levels in countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal (not to mention Italy and France)?
And the latest little wheeze, claiming that all European medals won at the Olympics mean the EU tops the medal table simply demonstrates the spirit of the mean-minded political pygmies infesting Brussels.
I laugh at the people that were so keen to remain in the EU, who are so bitter about the result of the referendum and seek to have it ignored. And they call themselves democrats.
It’s become apparent over the past two months that Brexit voters are in a state of self-justification. Because the roof hasn’t yet fallen in, life will inevitably be better. It’s too early to claim success – because nothing has changed.
This article exposes the hollow Brexit agenda and the mammoth and costly task ahead, whether or the UK ever leaves the EU: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-article-50-leaving-eu-wont-happen-after-2017-european-elections-france-germany-a7198736.html