Within days of the June 2016 EU referendum anti-Brexit protests were held by ‘Remainers’ who gathered from all over the United Kingdom to protest in London.
Thousands took to the streets to object to the result of the EU referendum vote which was won by the leave campaign by a slim minority. The win was attributed to lies perpetrated by the leave campaign and amplified by segments of the mainstream media, together with widespread discontent at ever- widening wealth inequality in the country.
The atmosphere of the protests was one of shock and disbelief at the result, mixed with hope that nobody in their right-mind would really follow through with the absurd agenda proposed by the pro-brexit camp. Large amounts of young people turned out for the marches, many of whom were disenfranchised and left voiceless in the referendum.
As the months have ticked by and the full reality has started to sink-in that the United Kingdom is being governed by Theresa May, an unelected virulently right-wing Prime Minister, who together with her hard-right brexit team appears hell-bent at dashing the future of the country’s young people against the rocks of the sinking island.
To date all the predictions of the negative impacts of Brexit have come true or show signs of doing so. The economy has tanked: the pound stirling currency has lost 17% of its value, inflation is rising, and property market growth has halted. Companies across the nation are assessing their options, and most are fast realising that being detached from the European Union makes no business sense and are making plans to relocate. The boom in high-paying foreign students arriving at UK universities was crushed by the imposition of onerous visa regulations. Meanwhile, EU research grants for universities and businesses are already drying up and alternative streams of funding have failed to materialise.
A mass brain-drain is underway as EU residents and other skilled workers leave, along with many English people not prepared to live under xenophobic conditions that hark back to the dark days of colonialism and the 1930s rise of nationalism. Where recently there was pride in the multicultural tolerance of the UK, now hate crimes have gone through the roof, as foreigners and refugees are hounded on the streets.
Unwillingness by the Brexit politicians to accommodate different realities within the Union has led to Scotland, Northern Island and many in Wales, to seek independence, raising the very real prospect of the entire break-up of the United Kingdom.
This would leave the country of England alone to navigate the uncharted waters of trading alone in the global market. Serious proposals by Brexit politicians for unique selling points for England have so far included tea and biscuits, and turning the country into a tax haven for the global super-rich.
Brexiters now talk openly of deregulation as a business opportunity, indicating that as EU regulations on environment, labour and human rights recede, there is currently little political will to replace them with homegrown alternatives. It seems that the design of little England is to win the global race to the bottom by marketing the country as a one stop sweatshop, where if you are a business investor anything goes, and no questions asked.
To tide the economy over through choppy Brexit waters, we are to rely on two familiar staples: more austerity at home, and increased arms sales to tyrants abroad.
