IS THIS THE END ? OR A NEW BEGINNING ?
Friday 13th proved the tradition : It was a disastrous day for those of us who know that the UK is better in the EU.
Boris Johnson's historic 80 seat majority, the biggest Tory majority since 1980, in the House of Commons, allows him to say that he now has the irrefutable, irristible, unarguable, mandate to "Get Brexit Done".
He also said to his "stentorian friend, the man in the blue 12 star hat to stop, it's enough and time to put a sock in the microphone". We know that the said man in the blue 12 star hat (He adapted a black hat from a charity shop) is Steve Bray who walked to his spot on College Green outside the House of Commons from his home in Port Talbot South Wales and is affectionately known as Mr.Stop Brexit. He has been making his daily protest since 5th September 2017. He also started SODEM, the Stand of Defiance European Movement and was voted "Man of the Year" in 2018 by readers of PMP Magazine. Steve Bray certainly deserves any accolade he gets and I don't think that Boris Johnson telling him to "put a sock in his microphone" will stop him.
When interviewed he said that to him the EU means, peace, freedom, freedom of movement and prosperity. It's the biggest free trade area. It's an astonishing success story and we should be proud of it. Brexit means we have failed as a nation. Stopping Brexit is democracy in action and it means the future generations having the same opportunities that I've had. I can't let those opportunities to be taken away.
He is not the only one who will not give up. Recent polls show that at least 50% of the population now favour remaining in the EU. We know that we already have the best deal and don't back any Brexit Deal.
Boris Johnson is so certain that he can get his oven-ready Brexit deal done very quickly, but in the election he had less than 50% of the vote, he was helped by Nigel Farage persuading the Brexit Party ( now no seats) to stand aside where the Tory candidate could win and increase the Tory majority. He gained votes from previously Labour voters who would vote Labour again but disliked Jeremy Corbyn and did not trust him on security or the economy. Scotland had voted to remain in the EU in 2016 and the SNP in this election won most of the seats. I know that this was because many voters, including my son, who is a member of the Greens, used their vote tactically against the Tory candidates rather than for the SNP. This was taken by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister,as a clear mandate for another Scottish Independence referendum. Jo Swinson, new leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in Scotland and resigned. The Lib Dems lost many of their seats across the UK but came a good second in many of those and actually increased their share of the vote. In Wales Plaid Cymru and Tories did well at the expense of Labour. In the north of England Tories won seats which Labour had held since 1932 & 1935. In Northern Ireland the DUP which had been propping up the Tories in Mrs.May's government, lost long-held seats including Nigel Dodds, a senior MP. The DUP do not like Boris Johnson's EU deal. Sinn Fein, the SDLP, and the Alliance Party gained seats.They all favour remaining in the EU. Boris Johnson has a huge number of seats in Parliament, and Labour had their worst defeat since 1987 and also lost vote share, but the results are more complex than they appear. Labour candidates found that voters liked the manifesto although some found them too much to take in and wondered how they would be paid for, but the main reason was their dislike of Mr. Corbyn and his failure to take a definite decision over Brexit. He says he will resign but not yet, until a new leader has been found.
Since the 2016 referendum, a number of anti-Brexit campaigns and organisations have grown, such as the People's Vote, Labour for a Public Vote, Another Europe is Possible, and individual MPs have resigned or lost the Whip. These organisations are unlikely to disappear as there are still many voters who dislike Brexit. The Election rules have meant that many EU citizens who have lived here for many years, have married and have British children and businesses here, as well as UK citizens working abroad, were excluded. Currently we UK citizens are also EU citizens so those from the EU filling gaps in the NHS, care services, schools & universities, did not all know that they would be excluded from voting.
Our First past the Post election system also means that the Party with the most seats, but not necessarily the biggest share of the vote, can choose the Prime Minister and it distorts the result, so smaller parties have fewer seats but may have more of the vote share and therefore does not always represent the will of the People.
The differences in the result in the different nations of the UK mean that the desire for the UK to leave the EU is not universally popular, so the break up of the United Kingdom is at risk.
There are also growing calls for politicians who lie in office to be made a criminal offence and severely punished.
Updating our Electoral Rules should be the first act of the next government, but in the meantime campaigning for what is best for all the people, rather than what the person currently in office and his party -whips like best, should be the priority before the UK is taken out of the EU, where we have a voice and can improve the things we dislike, by working together with our closest neighbours on the pressing problems of our age such as Climate Change and our future generations, the rise of extreme policies across the world.
Make this time a New Beginning, please check out the organisations who'll still be fighting a Brexit that is so disliked by so many!