Where’s the Brevision?

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Really, what is the point of Brexit? In the fevered imaginings of Liam Fox and Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit means low taxes for the super rich, privatised everything and not much in the way of worker’s rights. What I can’t fathom is what does your average, ordinary leave voter envisage Brexit will deliver for them personally? Yes I know – sovereignty, taking back control, blah, blah, blah. I think everyone’s realised the poor beleaguered English NHS isn’t getting £350m a week any time soon. So how does swimming in sovereignty translate into real life? What is the point of Brexit -what are the tangible positive effects on families and communities?

The Independence movement of 2014 had vision and ambition. It wasn’t independence for its own sake, it was independence with a purpose. It was engaging and inspiring, as well as considering the nuts and bolts and practicalities, as ordinary voters contemplated the kind of nation we could be. People – we had ideas, ideas about democracy, politics, trident, green energy, oil funds and a load of other stuff.

Where’s that vision and ambition within the grass roots Brexit movement (if there is such a thing)?

Brexit seems to be all about the anti – it’s the “we don’t like that thing” vote. Well folks, what do you like? Where’s the pro, where’s the positive, where’s the ambition? (Selling arms to Middle Eastern dictators is not something to aspire to, neither is a deal with Mr Orange. I’m after a better quality vision here.) We’ve heard a lot of waffle about the “opportunities” of Brexit. Well it’s been eight months………still a bit hazy as to where these “opportunities” are hiding. Is a £50 billion divorce bill an opportunity? Sounds more like an unnecessary drain on precious resources to me, but then I did once get 1% in a maths exam.

Maybe I’m just a dreadful sneering, liberal, cynic who needs to put down “The National” and pick up “The Daily Mail”. At some point in the next few years Theresa May is planning a fun activity she’s calling “The Great Repeal Bill”. Now it strikes me that this may be something that turns out not to be “great” or as simple as it’s being painted. But for arguments sake, magical Theresa waves her wand (she’s borrowed it from Hogwarts) and all that pesky EU legislation is re-homed in good old honest Blighty. So what now? Is there going to be a vibrant, radical campaign to IMPROVE this legislation – was that the point all along? We don’t want environmental protections as drafted by the faceless, distant European parliament, we want EVEN BETTER environmental protections, plus MORE animal welfare (all chickens to roam free at all times), MORE paid holiday, MORE funding for deprived areas; you get the picture. Now if this was the plan, then Brexit might not be so alarming, but I’m not hopeful. I’m starting to suspect that Brexit means Brexit means less. “Getting our sovereignty back” sounds OK, getting it back and giving it to an effectively unopposed, righter than right Tory government, maybe not such a cunning wheeze……Nigel Farage presented himself as the radical leader of a revolt against the establishment – then ran off to pose in a golden elevator. I think there’s a metaphor in there – something to do with manipulating people for personal elevation!

Brexit is an imposition, on Scots who don’t want it and on the English and Welsh who do. It’s being done to us, not for us, top down; like it or be denounced as a sneering liberal, divisive nationalist, moaning remainer. When (!) Scotland votes for Independence I don’t expect the winning side to say “fall into line, sit down and be quiet”, I expect collaboration, compromise and a collective effort. Brexit is more along the lines of “winner takes all, winner smashes all” and the Labour party provides the hammer. Isn’t the point of democracy that nothing is forever? We can argue, change our minds, have a re-run, bring down the government and replace them with a cabal of guinea pigs. (Guinea pigs would appreciate the EU’s animal welfare legislation.) 17 million Brits chose Brexit world, it’s their baby, where are the “leave” pressure groups attempting to shape and temper the government stance? I’m fairly certain most voters don’t have a hankering for life in a de-regulated tax haven. So why the unquestioning acquiescence?

I’m no rose bespectacled europhile, I was as anti the now defunct TTIP as the next sensible person, and the EU has really struggled with the refugee crisis, but Brexit, as realised by Theresa May and cronies, has nothing positive to offer Scotland or any average British person. And with the official opposition missing (not in action), the end of the Tory tunnel seems a long way off.

Maybe an independent Scotland won’t join the EU, maybe we will, maybe we’ll form a new confederation of small countries which occasionally experiment with fried confectionery. In an uncertain world I am absolutely confident that a small, independent nation, with an educated population and a wealth of other resources can do sooooooo much better than Brexit. And you know what, that goes for England too.

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2 thoughts on “Where’s the Brevision?”

  1. I share your assessment, Brexit appears to only be about “against”, against Brussels,against Immigrants,and the best of all,against the Establishment. The last one being farcical given Farage, Johnston, Fox and Reece Mog are all multimillionaire parts of the core of the Establishment. I have asked several of my friends who openly told me they voted Brexit, “why did you vote for it?”. The responses are consistent with what I have seen on TV. A belief that somehow Brussels is responsible for the dire de-industrialisation, no recollection that it was Thatcher and the last ultra right wing Tory Government. When I ask them to tell me “one good thing” that has happened since the vote they invariably have no response. This May Tory Government, I believe, see the UK as being an offshore Hong Kong sweatshop, a deregulated country which will have ever increasing disparity between the rich and poor, a country in which Boris Johnston once described London as “a country of billionaires and their servants”. It’s not a vision I want. Both my parents fought in the War and it’s to them and their generation that we owe a debt to for the NHS and all our other social welfare. I do not intend to accept their loss at the hands of a extremist Tory Government. We in Scotland have an opportunity to carve another course; that course is via Independence. There is no other route.

    1. Regarding the vision thing of the Brexiteers. With the next Indy. Ref. off and running, it’s only a matter of time before pro-Unionists start demanding another White Paper from the Scottish Government, which is sort of fair enough, however we should also insist on a similar document from the UK Government, spelling out what they will (not could or might) do to ensure Scotland prospers in the event that we again vote No. I’m not holding my breath on this, indeed I think Theresa May would actively avoid being boxed in by such a document. The signs are that she and her allies would like nothing better than to tear up the Barnet Formula and play to the shrill cries of the Daily Mail Brexiteers to curb the Scottish subsidy junkies.

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