All day I’ve been trying to be calm. Just try and step away and let this whole miserable day happen. Try and stay collected and approach this with restraint. Letting the people who voted leave have their moment, see how things evolve in the day ahead.
But I can’t. Everything I see is so utterly frustrating. So many people seem to have fundamentally misunderstood what this referendum was about.
I mean the amount of people who seemed to think that Voting Leave was some kind of arbitrary protest with no consequences is horrifying.
We just left one of the most impressive diplomatic feats in world history, because we couldn’t take not being special snowflakes.
This was not a vote on the politicians that govern us. It wasn’t. Being angry at the establishment won’t actually change anything here. The Tories are still in charge of the UK, the DUP can still do whatever they want in stormont through petitions of concern. The SNP plan for independence is probably going to come out of this looking rosy. Voting leave didn’t change that. Voting remain wouldn’t have changed that. In fact, all you’ve done is say that you prefer their rule to having someone in Europe hold them accountable when they mess up, using human rights law. The politicians running the UK have not changed, not in any meaningful way to you. There’s still going to be cuts to public services for the austerity project. You still won’t have any space at the GP office, or anyone to see you in A&E. There’s still going to be an attitude that those in the “establishment” haven’t helped the people on the ground. Your vote hasn’t changed that.
And if this wasn’t a vote for political change, what was it for?
I mean, economically, was it worth the experiment for us, even for one day, to send global stock markets falling? Is it worth it to be overtaken by France on the world stage, falling to the 6th place?
But no, it’s okay. The leave campaign has promised that the £350 million is going to the NHS.
Wait. Never mind that number was proven a lie before the election day, Farage has already said that it can’t be guaranteed. And fine, Farage may not be the leader of Vote Leave, but he shared their platforms, and their promises. I mean the same quote was in most of their own materials. Not just UKIP. Don’t hide behind them now. He was given equal time in their media space. His voice was given the same value as the rest of the vote leave campaign. So no, unfortunately for everyone, he isn’t irrelevant. If he says that funding can’t be guaranteed, the only way I’m going to believe it actually can appear is watching the budget report happen. And even then I’ll be sceptical.
Oh and don’t try to suggest that the lies were equal on both sides. Because they aren’t. Lying about what you promise will happen after the referendum is not the same thing as making predictions, based on evidence, to reasonable ability. Based on the so called lies, even if the remain camp had won, the very worst to happen is that nothing would have changed. The mandate of the leave campaign came from their pledges. So when they make the campaign about immigration and taking back control, that’s what people voted for. If they can’t keep those pledges, or institute some way of beginning them, that’s a failure of their campaign. A failure of the vote to leave.
And immigration? Maybe people, real people, not just those scary immigrants you keep telling me about, won’t want to come here now. Maybe it will be more difficult for people to start new lives or work in our hospitals and industries. Well guess what? That works both ways. Travel is now going to be a lot harder for anyone with a UK passport. Even if it’s just another hour in the arrivals lounge on your way to Spain. Never mind working abroad. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the visa application process.
And as for anyone who says this is a vote for the United kingdom, that’s a lie. Scotland said no. Northern Ireland, with obvious partisan exceptions, said no. London said no. Yet here we are. England, and a Wales that I could not be more disappointed in, have decided our plan.
They’ve voted for England and Wales and the repercussions are already plain to see. Scotland’s half out the door already.
They don’t care that Northern Ireland is supported by grants from the EU. All those art programmes. All those Film funds. All those cross community schemes.
They’ve voted for their own needs. Not the needs of the United Kingdom. Don’t start hiding behind the union flag now.
I mean within the DAY, Cornwall turned round and demanded the Government meet the task of covering their EU stipend. That they, and so many others no longer get.
This referendum should never have been started. The man who did gamble on it lost his job as prime minister, only to open the door for even more ludicrous candidates.
All this has done is divide and separate our society, for the sake of speculative anarchy.
And the EU is already telling us to hurry up and get on with it. I’m sure
So after all that. After getting what you wanted, and denying everyone else (in the world!) stability. Don’t turn round and tell me I’m not allowed to be annoyed. Don’t suggest that I should just shut up and take what’s happened lying down, because you wouldn’t if the roles were reversed. I know because up until yesterday, they were. I’ve had to listen to your complaining and conspiracy theories about bloody eurocrats, about some mythical European Army idea and to every xenophobic diatribe spouted against people who, for the most part, just want to have the same joys in life as you.
I know you voted for yourself. But for five minutes, just give the rest of us time to vent and deal with this mess.