The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Everyone can see for themselves the monumental mess Brexit has inevitably become.
Brexit is not merely another routine Westminster omnishambles, it’s a catastrophe on an unprecedented scale.
Indeed, the future of our country is at stake and the outcome of Brexit will profoundly affect the future of individuals, families, businesses and the nation as a whole for decades to come. So, how do this we dig ourselves out of this indescribable mess?
First, we must recognise that the very real problems experienced by people today have actually been created by our increasingly ineffectual, party-politically-obsessed political system in Westminster, not EU membership.
For instance, no one can blame EU membership for issues like: our scandalous, long-standing national housing crisis; underfunding of healthcare, social care, education, policing, and other public services; the underfunded introduction of
Universal Credit; zero investment in controlling migration and supporting the integration of migrant workers locally; or the long-standing underfunding of services in rural Lincolnshire compared with other areas across the country. These are the sort of problems that really affect the lives of people locally.
Next, we need to recognise the fantastic benefits our country has received from EU membership since the early 1970s.
Back then the UK was the “sick man of Europe” financially and the “dirty man of Europe” environmentally.
Prior to the EU Referendum in 2016, the UK had become the fastest-growing G7 economy and was a world leader in terms of tackling climate change.
In case readers are sceptical about the benefits of EU membership, let me mention just four:
(1) Prosperity. The EU has been phenomenally successful for jobs, trade, business and prosperity. It has dragged previously poor parts of Eastern Europe from poverty to prosperity, thereby creating huge new markets for our own goods and services.
(2) Ireland. Without both the north and south of Ireland being in the EU, the Good Friday Agreement would never have happened. Peace in Ireland is an amazing legacy of shared EU membership.
(3) Benefits for young people. Young people today have grown up knowing nothing other than EU citizenship. This has enabled them to travel, study, live, work, fall in love, marry, settle and build fantastic lives anywhere across the largest, most successful, most prosperous trading bloc in the world. It has also enabled us to become a true world leader in scientific research.
(4) Peace. People tend to forget it was Sir Winston Churchill’s visionary speech in Zürich in 1946 that led directly to the 73 years of peace we’ve enjoyed since the ending of two catastrophic World Wars only 21 years apart. I’d like to think that, if anyone were given the choice between living in peace and anything else, they’d instantly choose peace. Unfortunately, we seem to have become complacent about the benefits of peace in Europe in a way our forebears wouldn’t even begin to comprehend. 73 years of peace represents the longest-ever period of peace among the major powers in Europe over 3,000 years – and we should be hugely grateful to Winston Churchill, the European Movement and the EU for this unprecedented achievement.
The answer is very simple: give voters a final say on the terms of Brexit, with an option to remain in the EU, and then, collectively, start building a fairer, more just, more equitable society in the UK.
Alan Meekings
by email
