12/11/2018
Prime Minister Theresa May is apparently trying to conceal the bitter price of leaving the European Union from the general public, even under the terms that she aims to announce this week.
I've said it before and, no doubt, I'll say it again; there is no version of Brexit that, in my opinion, will leave the UK without serious and prolonged economic and cultural damage. Anyone who believes that we can enjoy the same frictionless trade throughout the EU as an ex-member of the club, as we enjoyed as not just a full member, but a prominent member with rights that most members do not enjoy.
Immediately after the 1975 referendum, the UK government managed to opt out of the European Monetary System (EMS) which had been created in 1979. The UK benefits from a twice-revised budgetary rebate, first negotiated in 1974-5 and then again in the early 1980s.
The UK enjoys numerous other opt-outs, on the euro, Schengen, and in the areas of freedom, security and justice. The UK also gained an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and refused to sign the fiscal compact. We had the enormous benefits of EU membership, with a unique and privileged position.
Theresa May, desperately trying to retain her premiership and appear as strong a leader as the UK's first (and only previous) female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, is clinging to a platform she never believed in to begin with. A promise that was impossible to deliver. A future that will be worse for our children and grandchildren, along with their children and grandchildren.
The importance of putting the brakes on the process of leaving the EU cannot be underestimated. We need to allow the British public a 'public vote' on the final deal, a chance to have a say with the benefit of more accurate and honest information.
And, in my opinion, this decision should be open to all British citizens who may be affected, including those who were not permitted to vote in 2016. This includes those UK citizens who had been resident in other EU states for over 15 years, even though the impact on them may be significant. However, it also includes countless people who had not been resident overseas for anywhere near that timescale but had been removed from voter lists and inappropriately refused the right to have their re-registration acknowledged.
It is time to make the decision as to whether the UK leaves the EU fair; fair for all.
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