What does BREXIT actually mean?

The vote has happened. Leave won. However much  many of us regret that, we have to accept the reality of it and find a way to move forward.

As the new Prime Minister has said "Brexit means Brexit" but some have asked "What does that mean?"

The answer is actually very simple[ -

BREXIT means that Britain will cease to be a member of the European Union.

That was what was on the ballot paper and it is what the Leave side have an electoral mandate for.

IT DOES NOT PROVIDE AN OVER-RIDING MANDATE FOR ANYTHING ELSE.


Brexit does NOT - necessarily - mean leaving the Single Market as well as the EU. That was not on the ballot paper and there were people actively campaigning for a leave vote who were also arguing that we could and should remain in the EEA.

Indeed, Remain campaigners promised us that Britain would continue to have access to the single market if we voted Leave because the remainder of the EU would be silly to put trade barriers in place between their companies and British markets.

Brexit does NOT - necessarily - mean much tighter immigration control. That was not on the ballot paper either.

It is reasonable to argue that the argument to "take back control" of our borders struck a chord with many people who believe - rightly or wrongly - that present levels of immigration are unsustainable and have had negative consequences for some of the least fortunate members of British society. It is reasonable to try to meet that concern. It is NOT reasonable to argue that the "Leave" vote provides any mandate to treat reducing immigration as an over-riding concern to be pursued at all costs.

The new government needs to negotiate the best deal it can for Britain. Then we need to make that agreement work.

We should negotiate hard for the best deal we can get. But let nobody assume that there will be no compromises or that we will get everything we want.

It would be ridiculous to expect that Britain will get everything that the most optimistic Leave campaigners promised. But by the same token, we should fight hard for a better deal than the most pessimistic Remain campaigners warned we would get. The truth is usually somewhere in between.

Comments

Jim said…
Brexit means, well it means British exit. But from what?

well lets have a look,

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

So first of all lets look at that question, its asking "should the United Kingdom"

ok, so that bit rules out regional votes, as we are asking the entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to vote as a single entity and give a verdict, we are not interested in "regional votes for this" gotcha

"remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

So that seems pretty clear to me, should we remain or leave the European Union, I see no mention of the single market (the EEA) I see no mention of its clause on the four freedoms either, do you?

so lets look at the answers for hints of those.

"Remain a member of the European Union" you could argue this is the definitive EEA solution as there is no other option there, granted but it is not what that question asked.

"Leave the European Union" Ok, Leave the European union, still no mention of the single market, still no mention of any thing else but the EU.


What is the problem here?

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Quote of the day 24th July 2020