As a committed 'LEAVE' voter, I have to say I have serious doubts about Brexit in the wake of the result.
I don't regret my decision, I have been anti-EU for a decade and a half, and all my gripes are with the institution itself- the sheer eye-watering cost of it, the layers and layers of bureaucracy, the lack of accountability, the inisistence on pushing the one-size-fits-all currency which has been so devastating to some, and the way in which commissioners and officials are appointed. I haven't changed on that and if real reforms could have been made, then I would have viewed the whole referendum differently. I wasn't persuaded by either side of the argument in the recent campaigning, and my feelings towards the EU were based on years and years of observing how the EU establishment conducts its business. I would have voted the way I voted regardless of the TV debates and the media, and the threats and lies from both sides, because my dissatisfaction has always been with the institution itself and this was the only chance I would ever have to make my voice heard.
However …. after thinking carefully about this over the weekend, I personally have reached the conclusion that even though 'LEAVE' got more votes - we do not have a sufficient mandate from the British electorate to make this work. The result was too close, with areas of the UK at complete odds with other areas and it has been hugely divisive. How can we be confident about taking such a momentous step knowing almost half our own electorate don't feel the same way as us? And please don’t tell me it’s ‘democracy – suck it up’. I know what democracy is, but I also know that when half of the UK are vehemently opposed to something, it is going to be very, very difficult to make it work.
Also, this decision which no-one expected has sent shock waves across Europe. Already there are calls from other countries for EU reform, more transparency and even calls for Juncker to resign. He and those of his ilk are only one small problem in the myriad things I dislike about the EU institution but it would be a start at least. What is interesting is that it is the democratically elected politicians of individual countries who are taking a far more measured and conciliatory line in regard to the UK referendum result, than the bureaucrats, and I for one, see this as a real positive.
Thursday’s vote has given the EU institution an almighty kick up the arse, and the irony would be for us to exit with the country divided and the EU going on to make the much needed reforms to the way it operates to the benefit of those countries remaining - with us now on the outside.
I just think we all need to stop hurling abuse at each other, and think seriously about the real implications of all this. If 'LEAVE' had won by a larger majority - even 60/40 then I probably wouldn't be feeling the way I do, but we didn't. How Boris Johnson (in today’s editorial in the Telegraph) can so blithely dismiss the real possibility of Scotland going it alone is beyond me. He says there is ‘no appetite for a 2nd independence referendum’. I’m not sure where he’s getting his information but from everything I’ve observed, I think there is very much an appetite for it, and indeed every possibility of it becoming a reality.
I can't see how forcing Scotland, Northern Ireland, London, West Wales (from where I come originally) and a sizeable percentage of English voters from other areas of Britain to do something they don't want to do, can be of benefit to the country.
I still despise the machinations of the EU institution and will continue to do so until it is reformed - but I can see a real possibility of that happening now because the democratically elected governments of other member states have to do something about the rise of Euroscepticism in their own countries and will do everything possible to prevent what has happened here, happening to them.
Just setting out my personal thoughts, and I am not interested in getting into any slanging matches with anyone on here.
