What should the government do next?
Watch this postFollowing the 23rd June referendum, the question now is what should the government do next ? The referendum was not about which political party should govern the country. The question was simple, does the voting population of the UK think the future for all of us will be better outside of EU membership. By a majority of 4%, the voting population said they believe the future of the UK will be better for all of us outside of EU membership. The government that was elected into power just a year ago will now start to pre- negotiate our withdrawal from EU membership and start pre-negotiating our future trading and commercial relationships with the EU and rest of the world. I have said pre-negotiate with the EU because nothing will happen in Brussels until we issue Article 50. I have also said pre-negotiation of future trade deals because we cannot sign new trade deals until we leave the EU. The leave EU campaign leaders have gone to the back benches or returned to Brussels. They will not have any influence on the negotiations to leave the EU or any influence on negotiating our trading relationship with the EU and the rest of the world. I would be very interested to know what Silversurfers believe the elected government should do first and what the government objectives should be over the next 4 years.
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We don't tolerate swearing, and reserve the right to remove any posts which we feel may offend others... let's keep it friendly!
Perhaps Leave just generally regard the simple facts of life on post-Brexit planet deluded as simply inconvenient .....UK lost its triple AAA rating - simple fact; Sterling plunges which means family budgets are hit for the forseable - simple fact; Treasury budget deficit majorily worse - simple fact; interest rates head to 0% and more QE - simple fact; pensions deficits widen by billions as a direct result - simple fact; triple lock pensions hit - simple fact; business confidence tanks - simple fact; value of British passport tanks - simple fact; no free movement of labour = no access to free market - simple fact; Norway has to belong to Schengen - simple fact; net cost of membership of the EU is 30 pence per day per UK citizen - simple fact. 50% + of UK's exports go to the EU and only 17% of EU exports come to the UK - EU can live without the EU but the UK cannot live without the EU - simple fact. UK does more trade with Ireland than with China & India combined- simple fact. The list of simple facts is well, simply endless. I know it's difficult to accept you've been mis-sold a Brexit but let's at least make some effort.
I'm sorry if my comment caused offence. I only referred to your comments as 'a rant' as they seem more concerned with expressing your view on the result of the vote rather than engaging with the question put by the OP which was what should government policy be now and over the next four years. I don't think the OP has expressed any strong view of being pro-Brexit.
No offence taken.
The problem is that it's not going to be easy or frankly possible to deal with the aftermath of the mass mis-selling scandal. We are all now well and truly up the proverbial creak with a very small paddle that has very large hole in the middle and wonky handle, paddling a very leaky canoe. Simple fact.
The sad fact is that we now have a very disunited Kingdom which may well disintegrate and disintegration does not generally end happily for anyone - history at least teaches us all that. That may well suit some of the Brexit warlords but it will most certainly not be to the benefit the mass of ordinarily folk, not least those who had set their expectations on a better life post-Brexit. You think it couldn't get worse ? Just watch and learn - it already has and it will get much ( much ) worse. Whatever the outcome, half the UK will feel that democracy has failed them, which it has.
What's the solution then ? When there has been a monumental cock-up early acceptance is the only way forward, unsavory as that may feel. That's not to say that the solution is the EU status quo because that doesn't solve the issues. There are at least 17 million people in the UK that want some significant change and it is change that we all need. But that change must bring improvements, not the reverse.
Informed democracy must be given its proper place. Politicians MUST be held accountable for any misrepresentations that they may have made during the Referendum - everyone in the UK deserves better than this shambles. That needs a great coming together to force that accountability before Article 50 is triggered.
An immediate independent public enquiry is needed to expose the real facts with a 6 month deadline. It can be done. The facts must be exposed. We all need to have a proper understanding of what the real options are so that we, the people of the UK, can make a fully informed decision based on the real facts with a clear articulation of the art of the possible. That has simply not happened. It's wake-up time.
us to stay in the E U our M E Ps for there own greed since we have been in the E U we have lost a lot of money before we joined we got 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound =1£ 12x20 =240 pence =1 pound we changed it to 100 pence to £1 to go into the E U we have a better future in front of us and we can be proud of ourselves and show respect for those who gave their lives for this country
I am not sure why you think the decline in the value of Sterling has something to do with the UK joining the EU - Sterling has generally been in relative decline every since the early years of the 20th century and in particular since the end of the Second World War....remember Harold Wilson's devaluation and the pound in your pocket - that happended before the UK joined the EU. Since the Brexit vote Sterling has now slumped to its lowest value for around 33 years....and all in a matter of a few weeks. Great result.
I suppose it's easy to blame the UK's relative economic under-performance on the EU but I am afraid that is all down to us in the UK not doing enough to stay competitive in key areas - for example, UK productivity is poor in comparision to many key EU member states, including France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. As a simple matter of fact that shabby performance cannot be blamed on the Eurocrats or the UK belonging to the EU. The UK simply has not kept up the necessary pace - its not been a conspiracy and leaving the EU will make it harder not easier to stay in the game - simple economic fact of life. Bit like saying that the right treatment for a septic left foot is to amputate your right leg - the treatment doesn't solve the problem of the gammy left foot and you've now only got one left to hobble around on. Sad but true. And remember what the UK was called before we joined the EU ? The sick man of Europe - well things are great but they are a heck of a lot better than they were before we joined.
If the UK is to prosper in the 21st Century we must finally put the 2 World Wars behind us - that is not to say we forget the sacrifices of those that fought or were bombed and I am sure we all have relatives that lost their lifes or were injured - me included. And let's remember that the founding fathers of the EU set it up to avoid Europe tearing itself apart again in bloody conflict. The newly emergent divisive nationalism that is spreading across Europe is beginning to look like the early stages of a re-run of the 1930's, and we all know were that one took us. Peace and prosperity in Europe has come with the small price tag of co-operation with and more integration with our neigbours - it is a price well worth paying, ironically for reasons that you cite.
If you have been misled into thinking that the UK is subject to a mass of overarching laws from the EU that always trump UK law and that affect every corner of our lives all the time, I can send you a link to Professor Dugan's short video that unravels fact from myth - it's well worth watching as it is based on well informed facts and those have been in short supply recently. It certainly helped me to see the wood from the trees.
Which countries are you referring to ? The UK is not part of the Eurozone. The money that went to Greece and the other Eurozone countries as bail-out, primarily came from the European Central Bank ( ECB) which is the central bank for countries that are in the Euro. The UK is not in the Eurozone and the UK does not therefore fund the ECB. It is thus largely factually inaccurate to believe that the UK has been party to bailing out Greece or any other Eurozone member states. The ballooning of UK post financial debt crisis was caused by the collapse of the UK's banking sector and the ' bail-out ' which cost us taxpayers billions was a UK affair. Simple but tad complicated fact. Problem is that the EU myth machine blames all the ills of the UK on the EU. If life were that simple. I'm afraid the reality is that our mess is all down to us. The collapse in Sterling, new QE programme and cut in interest rates ( due to the Brexit debacle ) means that we now have a lot more debt on the UK's books for the forseable. This has nothing to do with the EU - it is all of our own making - and I'm afraid indigestable as it may be, it's a regretable fact of life.
We will need to wait until Friday to find out what the outcome of the meeting between Sturgeon and May will be to have any idea which way events will turn. I did think it would be best to trigger article 50 as soon as possible to get the negotiations going but with the political unrest at the moment, I think the UK needs to get it's houses in order first. Thankful the governing parties are getting their act together but I think it's a disgrace the way Labour is carrying on. Whatever they think of Corbyn, I'm pretty sure people voted the way they wanted to whether or not Corbyn did or didn't do anything to help the campaign, perhaps it's just getting used as an excuse to oust him, but they should never have brought their debachle out at this time.