It seems some older folk are getting a little twitchy following Britain’s decision to quit the EU. In my view, they have good reason to get a little twitchy. We know that the older you were, the more likely you were to vote leave. That’s a matter of fact. And the reason for the discomfort from some older people is the likelihood that they have stolen the future from many younger people, effectively their own children and grandchildren.
We do not know this for certain, of course, but the fact of the matter is that the generation that is now drawing its old age pension and ruminating on nothing more than the weather and complaining about how this country is going to the dogs have, at the very least, put in jeopardy the things they themselves enjoyed and indeed enjoy to this day.
That generation has enjoyed the benefits of being able to travel freely across Europe, as well as to work there and to study there, but by voting to take a massive leap in the dark, they may well have ensured that the next generation won’t enjoy these things.
Whether it was a dislike of foreigners (you wonder why so many of the same people enjoy frequent holidays abroad, but it takes all sorts of hypocrites, I suppose) or a wish to return the country to how they imagine it used to be back in the 1950s and 60s, or to stop the EU making laws they don’t like, even though they’re not able to name a single law they don’t like; none of it matters. We’re on our way out of Europe now and hang the consequences.
And we are heading out of Europe, courtesy of a prime minister who is making things up as she goes along, surrounded by genuine Europhobes like David Davis and Liam Fox or ruthlessly ambitious pretend Europhobes like Boris Johnson. I have no wish to hold another referendum because whilst I can’t believe how we voted to leave the EU, I know that we did.
When I say that Theresa May is making things up as she goes along, I mean it. The country made the momentous step to leave the EU 120 days ago and we still know absolutely nothing about how Brexit will look. In 80 days, we will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, giving our politicians – God help us – and our civil servants to cobble together the best deal possible and if May is to be consistent the road ahead will be rocky.
With the emphasis on immigration and not the economy, free movement will be a two-way street. If we refuse EU citizens the right to work and study here, as well as applying restrictions to them travelling here, do not think the same will not apply to our own citizens in Europe. I detect no change in the public mood from those who voted to leave. A great many people voted to leave the EU precisely to restrict migration and they all know the hit our economy will take and how it will inevitably will hit their pockets too. It was a price worth paying. Not for me, it wasn’t, but my side lost.
Which takes me back to the beginning. The young always knew that leaving the EU would have a detrimental effect on their lives, which is so many of them voted remain. The old felt otherwise and had other priorities, like sovereignty and migration, and most of them voted leave.
I oppose the very concept of a referendum for virtually anything because it is such a binary choice, but by holding a referendum and deciding to leave the EU, the country either didn’t think free movement for the next generation didn’t matter, they didn’t think about it or they didn’t care.
