Socrates and Brexit

It's a little bit like when small children keep on asking "why?". It is perhaps a little bit more sophisticated. I'm currently posing a series of questions on my Twitter feed which also send them over to Facebook. Look out for them. Get involved.

I asked the other day about how exactly leaving the EU would benefit our children and grandchildren. I received no convincing answer. Soon there was quite an argument between Brexit supporters and Remainers. Both sides were talking with emotions and few used verifiable facts.

There were some opinions, and these are fine, either way. Many of the claims on both sides, however, were not backed up with critical evidence. 

I still feel duty-bound to persuade people Brexit is wrong. I find the Socrative method useful.

It's a matter of using open questions:

Why is Brexit good for our children and grandchildren?

How is trading with bigger countries better that trading with those close by?

What do you understand by Brexit?

What is it you dislike about the EU?

How have we lost our sovereignty to the EU?

So, what is the role of the Euro MP?     

How could the EU be reformed to make it work better?

How does leaving the EU make our borders safer?

How does leaving the EU help us to avoid food banks and homelessness?

What are the advantages of Brexit?

Of course, you must be able to answer the same questions about Remain. How confident are you about giving a well-reasoned, critically informed response to the following?

Why is remaining in the EU good for our children and grandchildren?

How is trading with bigger countries better that trading with those close by?

What do you understand by the EU?

What is it you dislike about Brexit?

How can we retain sovereignty and remain in the EU?

So, what is the role of the Euro MP?     

How could the EU be reformed to make it work better?

How does remaining in the EU impact on our borders?  

How does remaining in the EU help us to avoid food banks and homelessness?

What are the advantages of staying in the EU?

Now the kiddies' version.

Why is Brexit good for me?

Because we can make trade arrangements with bigger countries.

Why is it better to trade with bigger countries?

Because they have more to offer.

What do they have to offer that we can't get here?

Gas, oil, cheaper clothes.

Why are the clothes cheaper in bigger countries?

Because they can make them cheaper.

How do they make them cheaper?

Is Brexit lose / lose?

So what were people actually choosing on 23 June 2016?

 

Soft Brexit?

A soft Brexit is described as one where we keep the single market and with that we have to keep freedom of movement. Surely, though, a lot of people voted for Brexit because they didn't want any more immigrants and they didn't want to be tied to free trade only with the EU.

Free trade elsewhere?

Well, I note negotiations with Japan are going - well!  And even if they went brilliantly, dare I mention food miles?

Baby and bathwater

Why would we anyway want to keep these two restraints and not enjoy the other benefits of membership of the EU?      

Why give up:

·         The laws that are fair and keep your own state in check

·         The European Court of Justice – where do you go when your own country's judicial system lets you down?

·         Easy travel to other EU destinations.

·         Over 40 years of peace

·         Money, where the whole is greater than the parts

Myths challenged

The UK will not be £350,000,000 a week better off after Brexit. In fact, given that we will need to pay nearly that much to our regions, and goodness knows what to the farmers, that we will lose business, that the pound has weakened, that we lose access to magic money and that we have an exit debt to pay we'll be considerably worse off.  

We still have sovereignty. We always did and would still have even if we stayed. EU matters anyway are decided by the EU parliament. We all have an MEP who represents us. One, of course, had totally let us down and creates a bad press for the rest.

There always were controls on immigration even from the EU, as there are in each EU state.  However, we chose not to implement them. Now landlords, small businesses and universities are being asked to police this.

Our immigrants provide us with a net gain. They pay more in taxes than they cost in services. Particularly worrying is the effect of Brexit on the NHS. Much of the workforce is made up of citizens from other EU states. If they all go home and all the baby boomer ex-pats return to the UK – which the state of the pound may force them to do as their pensions rapidly lose value – we'll be in a heck of a pickle.       

 

The greatest loss?

Many of our friends from other EU states have returned home or are thinking about it. They feel unwanted here. In the eyes of the rest of Europe we look foolish and disorganised.     

Time for some plain talking …

What a mess. Trumpet and Brexit. 

We start with an immoral if not illegal referendum. The referendum itself wasn’t illegal or unconstitutional. The promise to abide by the results was foolhardy and undemocratic. It was all anyway about a competition between a couple of old Etonions and it went wrong. Eton mess or what? 

A referendum anyway works differently from an election. It tends to ask a yes or no question – it certainly did on 23 June 2016 - and there is no further representation for the “losing” side. If we have a general election and the party we vote for gets 48% of the votes but the party that gets in get 52%, the 48% are still represented and their MPs can still influence outcomes. Nothing much happens as MPs are largely bound by what can and cannot be done. 

The latter incidentally mitigates a little what has happened in the USA. We can take heart from the fact that Clinton actually got more of the individual votes. Whatever the Trumpet says, much of it will not be possible and anyway he will be held in check by all of those who voted for Clinton. 

Our position with Brexit is slightly different. Mayhem informs us, going against her own conscience, that “Brexit is Brexit.” It is apparently the will of the British people. Which British people I ask? The 52% of people who voted? What about those living abroad who couldn’t who live on a promise of being in the EU? What about the youngsters? Won’t a lot of the people who voted for leave actually leave soon, kind of permanently? Let’s hope they’re all wrong about there being no reversal. 

There is also the alarming problem that many who voted for Brexit were voting for something else entirely.

First we have the £350,000,000 a week lie. It won’t be available for the NHS. 

Then, leaving the EU will prevent all of the problems that immigration cause. What are they exactly?  Immigrants pay taxes and NI and fill skills gaps. There are some illegals. Not that many. Let’s deal with them better anyway. 

The EU is not perfect and is badly in need of reform. There is dissatisfaction and unease in other states as well.  So, let’s get it sorted. Or drop all barriers world-wide. But let’s continue to trade freely with our nearest and dearest – there are fewer food miles. 

We have had two shocks. No one expected either Brexit or Trumpet. Many of us weren’t aware of the fundamental discontent at certain levels of society. The EU becomes a bit of scapegoat. The actual problems were caused by the sub-prime mortgage scandal, a by-product of greedy banking, and we all know which great nation started that ball rolling. The  problems were not caused by immigration or the EU. Despite its imperfections, the EU has brought us some effective laws and many decades of peace. 

A dark side is emerging. Fascism seems to be on the rise again. There have been so many shocking racist attacks. It’s interesting that Germany has reacted the most assertively to what is happening in the States and seems the most concerned by Brexit. They’ve been there, done that and know it doesn’t work and is abhorrent.  

And yes, I will “remoan” if you must call it that – on and on and on. If it had been 52% in favour of the Final Solution would you condemn me for continuing to condemn it?  I actually think it’s that important.