The health secretary has re-opened the debate about Brexit and it is about time. We voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. We left the all the institutions of the EU including the single market and the customs union in December 2020. Since leaving completely Britain has seen no tangible benefits . The sunny uplands of Brexit are covered with dark clouds. The British people were promised an improved economy, greater control of the borders and more sovereignty when we left. None of these promises were kept, there was no plan for what would happen next and even if we could have exploited Brexit we failed.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-wes-streeting-european-union-b2844451.html
I voted to remain in the EU but I knew that most of the British people were sceptical about joining in a complete political union and membership of the European parliament. Had the option been on the ballot paper to leave the political institutions of the EU but remain in the single market, or customs union or both, then I would have voted for just leaving the EU, but not the major economic institutions. I was given no other choice so I voted remain. Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU as did Gibraltar but they had no choice but to leave the EU - so much for local democracy. A solution could have been negotiated which saw Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar staying in the EU but the rest of the UK leaving, provided the rest of the UK stayed in the Single Market and Customs Union. The EU is flexible; Greenland has left the EU but it still remains part of Denmark. Brexit turned out to be a completely inflexible all or nothing choice.
It is time to try something different if we want our economy to improve by getting closer to the EU.
It is time to try something different regarding the free movement of labour . Britain is short of skills, and care workers, health workers, engineers and construction workers etc. We need people to migrate to our country to fill in the gaps. EU workers no-longer feel welcome in the UK and are not coming. We have had to turn to Asia to attract workers, but many British people are unhappy with importing foreign workers and their families. However, we have no choice. But, we can only reduce the numbers of immigrants by receiving foreign workers who do not bring mothers and fathers and children with them. This was what happened in the main when there was free movement of labour as part of the single market.
It is the position now where we have attracted foreign labour to our country but now we are making life more difficult for them by banning their families. It is not a good moral position, foreign workers deserve rights too.
With regard to sovereignty we have no choice but to get closer to our EU partners, to meet the challenges of confronting Russia and China both economically and militarily and India and the US just economically. We have weakened our position in the world by not co-operating fully with our nearest neighbours.
With regard to the economy, where are the bene? No-one wants to talk about the benefits, there haven't been any. Food inflation has gone up and up, and it does not not look as if the rate of food inflation will come down soon. Investment in Britain and our industries is in the doldrums. Agriculture has been damaged by agreements with Australia and New Zealand. The Fishing industry is in danger of collapsing, If the EU decide to put 50% tariffs on steel as a result of the trade war with the US then our steel industry could disappear.
Come on politicians wise up let's have a debate about Brexit and our future relations with the EU. Let's have a Royal Commission about the cost and benefits of re-joining the EU itself or just the single market and customs union. Let's find a solution not just for England and Wales but also for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar too Let's look at proposing and joining a commonwealth with the EU, if full membership of the EU institutions are unacceptable. Our economic and diplomatic future deserves better than what we have got now. Start debating now.
