I am one of the 48%. I was on the wrong side of EU referendum result and the sadness and despair I felt on Friday morning has not subsided. On the contrary, if anything I feel worse. And hearing the gloating politicians on the TV and radio fills me with utter pessimism. Today’s intervention by Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers into the debate confirms my worst fears.
Ms Villiers, who was a senior Brexiter, has said, very specifically, that the free movement of people cannot be part of any future settlement with Europe. She added, again very specifically, that therefore seeking membership of the European Single Market was not going to be a runner. This flies in the face of the comments made by the next prime minister Boris Johnson who said, after the result was announced: “Our children and our grandchildren will continue to have a wonderful future as Europeans, travelling to the continent, understanding the languages and cultures that make up our common European civilisation.” There is more than a slight contradiction here. And, with his track record of inconsistency and deceit, who can possibly believe a word he says?
Then, up pops the slimy ‘Dr’ Liam Fox, the darling of the Tory neoliberal right, who makes it as clear as clear can be that the next Tory leader and prime minister must be someone of – and I am sure you saw this one coming – the Tory neoliberal right. Naturally, he didn’t name names but Theresa May was the person to whom he referred, implying she could not become PM. Mrs May supported the Remain campaign, albeit with all the enthusiasm of Jeremy Corbyn, so the Fox wing of the Tory Party has said she cannot lead the country. And do you know what? Much as I despair about the future, short, medium and long term, I can’t see how the Tory Party can possibly elect anyone else.
And the tone of the politicians from the winning side has changed. From the almost shocked, solemn air from Friday when Johnson and Gove put on their serious faces, today is smug satisfaction, gloating at the rest of us. There is no law that says they can’t, but it doesn’t make the 48% feel like moving on. In my case, rather the reverse.
The real victor in all this is Nigel Farage, without whom I suspect we would never have reached this place. This was, he said, a victory for “the real people, for the ordinary people, for the decent people”, the implication being that the 48% were none of these things. It was only when the Ukip leader said the vote to leave the EU had happened “without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired” that I was reminded of what a vile excuse for a human being he is. No one crowed, no one gloated more than Farage. No hand of friendship to nearly half the population who were in the losing camp, many of whom feel like the future of the country and our children have been stolen from them. Theresa Villiers has now confirmed that we were right.
Having backed the losing horse, it would be foolish not to accept the will of the electorate. And of course I do. The reasons 52% of those who voted to leave are many and varied, but it doesn’t matter. The deed is done and somehow we must find a way forward. It is for those who led the Leave campaign and the 52% to do that.
But it’s not just the 48% who need to get over ourselves, so do the winners. It is no good Cornwall voting decisively to leave the EU and now begging the Treasury to shell out billions of pounds to replace the money they will no longer get from the EU. It’s not going to happen. George Osborne’s public spending cuts have barely started so Cornwall, like everyone else, is going to have accept even bigger cuts than before, the cuts Cornwall voted for in the general election of 2015.
David Cameron’s dreadful and negative Remain campaign was emphatically rejected by voters, as it was condemned by many of us who wanted to stay in the EU, but the road will be rocky for many years to come. Much of Project Fear will come to pass in terms of diminishing investment in the UK, losing the ability to travel, work and live abroad, higher prices in the shops and all the rest of it. Nigel Farage has today admitted it is likely there will be an economic recession as a result of leaving the EU so this is not the Remain side scaremongering: it is the official side of Brexit.
That I fear the future now that we have “regained control” will not change that future. I can state my opinion, but I know how this will play out, with Boris Johnson becoming prime minister from October and Michael Gove as his chancellor, along with a cabinet which will make Cameron’s look left wing by comparison. I am not going to gloat when, in two or three years time, millions of ordinary working people are no better off, or even worse off, than they are today; when immigration has barely changed; when big companies have started to relocate from the UK and when the NHS is on its knees. But Project Fear was not totally wrong, even if it was misguided.
A land fit for Nigel Farage, the last thing on earth I wanted to see. The Pound Shop Oswald Mosley leading the heirs to the BNP, but wearing blazers instead of jackboots. A dark day and a dark future, but one we voted for, hopefully with our eyes wide open. Good luck. We might need a big chunk of it.
