Brexit: Democracy under attack

A strong democratic principle must underpin a reliable judiciary.   Both of these are in turn, essential components of successful democracies.

On June 23rd 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union.  The referendum was conducted in compliance with the “Venice Commision’s  ( also known as the European Commission for Democracy through Law) Code of Good Practice on Referendums.  As well as UK law surrounding conduct during referendum.

It could reasonably be argued that these pieces of legislation are highly biased in favour of the government position, allowing, as they do, that the government need not act impartially.  2 Lead campaigns are picked to stand as the official opposing positions and are therefore subject to some advantages, a subsidy of some 125,000 UK pounds for each party and a spending limit of 7 Million pounds in total.  However, in this case both campaigns but particularly, the ‘NO’ campaign in favour of remaining in the EU.  The campaign received vastly disproportionate benefit in kind.

Benefit in kind came in many forms.  Most controversially, the British government paid for the distribution of the ‘No’ leaflet at a cost of a staggering 9.3 million pounds. Dwarving the total spend allowed by either campain in its entirety.  Mainstream media was almost entirely biased in favour of the EU and therefore began a veritable onslaught of pro EU propaganda.   This sleight of hand did not go unnoticed as before the leaflet had ever been distributed a petition went to the House of Common in Westminster on 9th May 2016 containing well over 200,000 signatures. 

Media bias however was by far the most visible factor. Faux debates were staged in which one would see two or even 3 campaigners for remaining within the EU versus 1 leave advocate.  In most if not all cases, the host themselves were blatantly prejudiced in favour of the EU and one often wondered what the point of inviting the leave campaign onto the program could have been as these were often very much a ranting emotional outburst rather than any sort of reasoned debate.   To make matters worse, it later came to light that those taking part, represented organisations receiving funding from the EU themselves and that the very terms of this funding comes with a contract, which specifically enlists support and prohibits speaking out against, EU principles and practices.

Many of the public did not realise before this, that to receive funding from the EU, one is contracted not to criticise the EU itself.  Therefore the bias penetrates very deeply into any such organisation no matter how much of its overall funding is obtained directly from the EU itself.

But it did not stop there, the official website of the government continued a steady barrage of dire warnings and predictions concerning what might occur if the British people were to vote to leave.

Here is are the highlights from just a snapshot in time from HM Government website www.eureferendum.go.uk prior to the referendum vote:

• HM Treasury analysis shows Britain’s economy could be tipped into a year-long recession in the events of a leave vote.
  
  – Never happened despite the best efforts of some of our own ministers to make it happen and UK Markets recorded historic highs as did export figures.

-Inward investment from some previously hard to court industries and areas around the world increased dramatically. Such as investment in new tech centre businesses  by  US -based investors.

 
        – Business with China grew to the point at which Britain jumped up to 5th place in terms of  the overall  value of the relationship.

• AT LEAST 500,000 Jobs could be lost and GDP could be around 3.6% lower.

         – Actually, the situation regarding jobs has dramatically improved and Britain has employment figures that almost all of the Eurozone can only dream of.

• Average real wages could be nearly 3.6% lower following a vote to leave the EU than it would be if we remained in the EU.

        – A very subjective claim and highly dishonest statement to begin with.  Wages in the UK were suffering severe wage attrition due to increasing numbers     of  low skilled workers from all across the EU willing to accept less from employers in terms of rights, wages and overall living standards.  With countries such as Bulgaria and others have average earnings of 400-450 Euros a month, low skilled workers and labourers were those most affected.  Often saddled with mortgages or other financial commitments and families, it was this group most affected by the flood of migration. 

In reality, the decision to leave did stop the flood of migrants into the UK, subsequent decisions to reduce or remove access to benefits also further reduced the incentive to leave poorer countries to take advantage of more generous conditions in Britain.  So the reality is that the vote to leave actually had the opposite effect.  Some EU migrants began to return home after struggling to find employment and at least some of the incentives to come to Britain were reduced.  This has had a hard to quantify yet perceivable benefit in this area.  However, migration still continues largely unchecked, though at a far reduced level from its peak in 2015.  There are still some concerning effects as a result of this as too many migrants fail to find work and end up creating increasing problems with services, social cohesion and sustainability of services as well as homelessness in some cities.

• a cost per year equivalent to GBP 4,300 per household in the UK

      – Simply never happened and the calculations related to this were almost entirely spurious to begin with.

• a hit to tax receipts of GBP 36 Billion a year equivalent to an extra 8p on the basic rate of income tax.

       – While it is always possible to completely mismanage an economy and fail absolutely to plan, to take advantage of opportunities in order to balance areas in which one cannot necessarily benefit immediately, it is almost inconceivable that any government could be quite this incompetent.  This was a longer term prediction which even current politicians today or the generation to come will likely never see.  It was never going to happen to begin with and was indicative of the sort of fear mongering perjury coming by the UK Treasury.

Yet despite all this, the massive weight of vested interests, collusion and misinformation, the people of the UK still voted to leave the EU.

The governments various communications had made it clear that a vote to leave was a vote to leave the European Union entirely.  It painted an almost dystopian fantasy of a future based not upon reasonable outcomes, but something out of a novel.  But the British felt that they were already living through the beginning of another novel ‘1984’ and decided that this was not a journey that they felt they wanted to go on with poor ‘Winston’ of the same novel, having a reasonable idea how this was going to work out for ordinary working class people.

So they got up, went out and voted in the largest ever turnout for any British vote ever conducted in British history.  In one of the most incredible nights in British history. Not for the first time, the British working class pushed back on the elite and changed the direction of British history forever.  Not for the first time, the average man and woman in Britain had saved Britain from a hostile foreign power.

Yet, here we are.  2018.  The British press is full of obfuscation and project fear continues unabated.  In a sense, it was as if the vote was not democratic at all but somehow option and malleable by those who do not like the outcome.

We are told that we are too stupid to know what we voted for.  That despite the fact that ordinary British people are far more aware of the EU and how it works now than any other citizens of Europe, we do not know enough.   I do and I can tell you, the more you know the more horrified you become.   See the paper on the EU, its structures and values on the State of the Union main page of this blog.

So, after that vast campaign, the media blitz, that highly controversial 9.3 Million GBP taxpayer funded leaflet AND the dire warnings to voters not to vote to leave the EU (because leave meant leaving all of these various structures of the EU),  how do a certain dark cabal of highly biased EU fanatics and beneficiaries in government and beneficiaries the, to our shame as a nation, unelected House of Lords think that they can get away with overturning the largest democratic outcome in history?

Because those with the power and money to influence these decisions do not have the same interests in common with ordinary people. Indeed, those with influence and the wish to pervert the course of democracy are on a mission undermine democracy in Britain.   The problem is, that they have form.  Look at the EU’s history of ignoring democratic votes in members states all across Europe.  One of the key reasons many people voted to leave while we still can.  

We need to push back hard on this massive abuse of power.  Those who call for a peoples vote are blatantly corrupt and undemocratic.  Given all of the money time and effort put in to tell us we were voting out and out meant out.  It should be a legal obligation upon our government to do exactly what they were told to do by the people in alignment with the outcome of the properly conducted referendum which was held.   

Though we voted for a clean exit, of course, no one would sensibly object to a Canada style deal in reality. but no one voted to leave on some sort of vague notion of a deal which at that point, no one could define or offer a referendum on to begin with.  We could only vote on remaining, or leaving.  This we did. So the government should be held to account to deliver it that, come what :Theresa May” do, to obfuscate matters. 

A mutually beneficial deal would of course be a value add.  But we voted to leave entirely with the end result that the EU no longer control any aspects of UK legal or regulatory decision making.  So the government need to get on with it on the basis to which they committed. Stop the obfuscation and incompetence and deliver exactly what they were told to. 

Push your MP, push back on anti democratic rhetoric.  Whether you voted leave or remain, if you believe your vote should matter and that the basic principle that the vote of a prince is worth no more than the vote of a pauper and of democratic equality. Do not let them take it away from you an inch at a time.   Otherwise, before you know it, you will be irrelevant and your rights will be stolen away from you step by step.