An open letter to leavers

[LoveInTokyo]

Dear Leavers

I’m sorry that David Cameron offered us a referendum and promised to respect the outcome, whatever it was.

Unfortunately, he was fucking with you.

He promised that referendum when he didn’t think he stood a cat’s chance in hell of getting a majority, and never thought he’d actually have to deliver on it. When he got his surprise majority, he made a big show of going to Brussels and pretending to negotiate with the EU to get us a “better deal”. Unfortunately, he already knew perfectly well that the UK already had a better deal than any other country in the EU, and that they were not going to bend over backwards to get us to stay. So he made a big show of negotiating and then tried to pretend that he had done something meaningful. He then went through the motions of holding a referendum, half-heartedly campaigning to remain. He did absolutely no contingency planning, partly because he never believed that leave would actually win, and partly because he already knew that he had no intention of staying to deal with the fallout if they did. That’s why he resigned the day after the referendum and waltzed off, whistling a merry tune.

He played a high risk game of poker with our money, and lost.

I understand that many of you feel defensive about your decision and dislike being labelled “thick” by angry remainers. As a remainer myself, I feel saddened and frustrated that none of you seem able to articulate any benefits that will actually come out of Brexit. But at this stage, I would quite happily accept that there will be no benefits, and settle for damage limitation. Unfortunately none of you seem able to explain how we limit the damage either.

We cannot leave the single market and customs union without there being a hard border in Ireland, which will put people’s lives at risk. We cannot leave the single market and customs union without severely damaging most sectors of the economy, which would cause untold hardship for millions of people living in the UK. I realise that remaining in the single market and customs union would make leaving the EU pointless, but it is the only way to limit the damage.

The government has made almost no progress towards getting a workable deal in place, and time is running out. We don’t have the infrastructure in place to ensure that supply chains of essential food and medicine will not be disrupted after Brexit day. We don’t have a plan to ensure that planes will still be able to take off and land, or that satnav will still work. We do not have any trade deals lined up. We simply do not have time to do any of these things.

Dear leavers, you do not have solutions to any of these problems, and more importantly, neither do Theresa May, Boris Johnson, David Davis, Liam Fox, Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Leadsom, Daniel Hannan, Jeremy Corbyn, Kate Hoey or any of the people who claim to think Brexit is the right choice for the UK.

A no-deal Brexit is unthinkable. It is not an option.

I realise that many of you will feel betrayed if we do not get the kind of Brexit you want. But to be honest, you’re going to feel betrayed even if you do get the kind of Brexit you want, because it will be unimaginably shit. This is not "project fear", it is "project reality".

The government has a duty to act in the best interests of the country as a whole. It’s not good enough to lay the blame at David Cameron’s door and say he held the referendum so we have to respect the vote. David Cameron has been out of office for two years. It is now plainer than ever that leaving the EU is a terrible idea, and there is still time to put the brakes on and not go through with it. If the government goes through with this when they could put a stop to it, they cannot continue to blame David Cameron and claim that their hands were tied. They are not.

It is time for Theresa May to do the decent thing and say, “I’m sorry, I know it’s what the people voted for, but it simply can’t be done without causing a totally unacceptable amount of harm to the country. And I have a duty of care towards everyone, not just the 51.8% who voted leave.”

I think what we didn't realise properly when they had the vote that none of the "Leaver" representatives would ever be held to account for their "promises", you vote a government in and decide if we are doing a good job or not.

The thing about Farage is that he is not an elected politician in the UK. So he can say what he likes, with absolutely no consequences.

I wish the EU would say, "We'll give you a trade deal but only if Nigel Farage agrees to forfeit his pension.

Then we'd see how much he cares about his country.

What sort of change?

I actually feel sorry if you voted "Leave" as you don't get ANYTHING that was promised. If are getting flack from those who voted "Remain" they have a right to be upset, their whole future is destroyed, everything we have worked for is gone, just because a man with a pint had a twinkle in is eye. I can't even begin to think about next year without feeling very depressed. Many of you probably can't remember the "three day week" from the 1970's or the winter of discontent. It was miserable sat in the dark with just the gas fire on with candles, the fear that there wouldn't any work or benefits.

I am not being pessimistic just well we have seen it before and I hoped that we would never see it again. I have DCs and I remember being scared and hope this would never come again.

For those leavers sitting in winter 2019 possibly in the dark or without heat with your DCs I hope that the joy of getting your way gives you comfort.

My fears about Turkey first started when I watched Obama step of the plane in Turkey I was sitting in my Grandparents house in Cyprus. (They are from the UK) a few years later it was reported that they could join by 2020. My news sources back then was UK media now I don't trust them.

The change back then was looking at the UK as a whole and seeing a divide. You have people on the breadline barely making ends meet and people who can't get social housing but we had people arriving from other countries and settling here. We were going the same way as Greece and Spain.

The Working time legislation might of been interrupted wrong but why would the city council closed to me implement it and this was in exactly the same job as me.

I probably would of voted to stay but the information I had then is all I could go on and I thought that the remain campaign was all scare tactics.

We haven't finalised anything yet so we don't know what the outcome will be. I'm
not going to go into doomsday thinking but honestly if it all goes to shit I've got a plan to move to Cyprus

So you didn't do your research before voting, if we had a second referendum you would probably vote remain, you think it will probably be fine (but you admit to not being well informed on any of the issues), and if things do go to shit you plan to move abroad and leave most of the 16 million remain voters to suffer through the mess you played a part in creating?

Seriously Raven, I really wish people like you would do us all a solid about how you were lied to, you've changed your mind, and nobody voted to destroy the country.

Raven88 if you can go now, I would leave if we could settle elsewhere. Unfortunately I have vulnerable relative I could not leave, so we stuck here to watch the end of services, NHS, 1st world living and being able to just worry about the smaller things as will be consumed with sourcing supplies.

My greatest fear is in this new world we will see a rise in right/left wing politics (who again will make wonderful promises) and before you know it a new order will be here and our old world will gone. I imagine they are planning it now.....

Thanks Raven I haven't got anywhere to move to.

Start shouting from the rooftops, I mean.

The only way I can see us being able to row back from disaster is if enough leavers swallow their pride, admit that they were taken in by shysters, and cast some serious doubt on the democratic legitimacy of what we are doing.

LoveInTokyo re Farage, the EU really want the UK to stay, could simply offer the UK a 5 year pause on FOM, but still have a job based visa system, I’m 100% sure, that would find most leavers happy to stay in the EU, ( it would probably end up in name only) why are you remainders not prepared to compromise ( it’s up to the EU) you then have 5 years to educate people to the good sides of the EU, it’s a shame the remain party couldn’t do that last time.

Rosstac, nope the EU could not offer a pause on FoM.

FoM is one of the four freedoms. The cornerstones of the EU.

You're saying that shows that you clearly do not understand the EU and its position which has not changed at all.

Meanwhile, in 2 years we have gone from £350m per week for the NHS to there might be some benefits in 50 years.

It's bollocks.

Your saying that. Not you're

Free movement is not negotiable and never has been.

The UK has seen the benefits of free movement and successive governments have decided not to limit EU immigration in any way when they could have done.

Letting one country have all the benefits without having to comply with the rules would cause the EU to collapse, because no one else would comply with the rules either.

We are not that important.

And actually I'm thinking we need to crash out with no deal now. We really do. There is no other way.

Rosstac I'm afraid the Remainer's campaign were offering what we have, though difficult to communicate on so many levels what the benefits are.

A good example is that the money we paid to the EU came back in so many ways, though the decision to distribute the money was less SE/London centric, so "poor" Northern people, Welsh, Scottish, NI got to see improvements in their roads on infrastructure. It was the EU motive to upgrade all parts of the EU. We have some lovely projects near us funded by the EU, new roads, art and all sort of exciting things.

Good on you Raven88, having a plan B is great....if you can.

The EU have 4 freedoms, one of which is FOM, the UK has nt asked for any suspension on FOM rules has it?
Which i believe it could have requested at any time before the brxit vote, so Spain gained a suspension on FOM for Romanian workers back in 2011, other countries have various restrictions/work permit requirements.
The UK suspended all border controls on who comes in/out of the UK sometime ago, due to not being able to process the numbers and having no ID card requirements.

All May has said is Brexit means Brexit, specified her red lines on SM and CU and that we are leaving the EU.

There is little room for compromise in any of that.

That's not my Brexit plan b that's always been my plan b for 10 years. Do people really think it's going to turn us into a second class country.

You do know Cyprus is in the EU don't you?

So the EU is fine for your escape plan but not for those of us left behind?

Can you see why some remainers left behind might be a tiny bit annoyed?

Then Brexit it is, no compromise on either side will lead to a no deal,
I still cannot believe that some people think that all FOM is a good thing especially at the low skilled end, you have obviously not been affected be it, so you wouldn’t understand why a majority of people are against it.
The EU could make the offer and the gov could put it to the people.

Casting “doubt on the democratic legitimacy” has been one strand of the continuation of the Remain campaign since very soon after 23/06/2016. I get criticizing the content or even the conduct of a campaign but questioning the legitimacy of people’s votes is super dangerous IMO.

Also the Leave vote was ANGRY, why would Remain be angry, we like our status quo and were slightly perplexed at the anger. High emotion is attractive whether positive or negative. Also who could resist a bloke in a pub with a twinkle in his eye.

I think as I wasn't following the Leave camp too closely, it actually came as real shock when read into their promises. If ever this was an example of spin.....

Do people really think it's going to turn us into a second class country. yes.

I know it's in the EU. Getting angry and treating leavers like they are stupid is probably why they lost. That's how trump won.

It might be one of the EU red lines, but it’s also one of the governments red lines to end FOM, so that’s that then, nobody going to make offers?

I am on an drug, which by the grace of NICE allows me to live a normal life. If they NHS cuts funding, I will dead in two years. I am having to come to terms with this and thinking about my DCs. There will be many who will be the same position as this is first world medical treatment.

It is sad.

Raven I don't think anyone thinks the Remainers are stupid, but its great you have options. I would love to have back up plan, but with my medical condition and relative I can't leave the UK.