An open letter to the United Kingdom,
I wished to write this letter after the outcome of Thursday's (23rd June 2016) EU Referendum. This is not something I would usually do because, to be quite honest, I don’t usually care what people think about my opinions, beliefs or ideas on anything. I don’t hold any social networking sites or anything like that so I don’t have a forum for things like this anyway, however, this is a subject that has really irritated me the last two days.
Ok, so I am one of the majority who voted to leave the EU, so I am very pleased with the outcome of the referendum. The issue is the press that we who voted to leave are receiving. I am 31 years old so I don’t know if you would class that as 'the older generation who have sold the youth down the river'? I would like to think not, but perhaps I am to a sixteen year old. I am not a racist, which we all seem to have been portrayed as. I have no issues with immigration, which again we all seem to have voted for. I don’t think 'there are too many Eastern Europeans taking all of our jobs', and I most certainly do not believe 'Britain for the British'.
Quite frankly I find all of these portrayals of the Leave voters extremely offensive. Why do I have to be from an older generation in order to know what direction I would like for, not only myself, but for the next generation I leave behind? On this topic I would also say that this 'older generation' were the very same people who voted for us to join the common market in the first place, so surely they would hold an opinion on whether this was what they signed up for or not. To say they shouldn’t hold a voice in the direction of what is their nation too is quite frankly ludicrous. Why should only young voters have an opinion?
On the topic of being labelled a racist just because I wanted to take my country in a different direction Is perhaps the most offensive of all. No one on this side of the argument suggested that the Remain voters only wanted to stay because of cheap holidays and lower telephone roaming charges did they? It is ridiculous to believe that only one point of view, that of immigration, was the be all and end all of this decision. Yes, immigration is an important topic for some, but not for all, and anyway even if it is an important topic for those people, to label them 'racist' for holding an opinion on a subject that, fundamentally, has nothing to do with ones race, religion or sexual orientation is a little narrow minded I believe. Do I hold an opinion on immigration? Yes of course I do, even those who believe it is a good thing hold an opinion. I do not hold the opinion that immigration is a bad thing, quite the contrary, I am all for immigration, I have been a migrant worker in two other countries in my career, so I do not think it is a negative thing for a nation. Don’t get me wrong I believe there are flaws in the EU model of free movement of peoples, but I do not hold the belief that we should close our borders and stop migrants taking all of our jobs. I do hold opinions on what the possible alternatives are but that is not what is important here. What is important is that not all who voted to leave the EU are in the category of 'Britain for the British'. I love the multi-cultural facet of Britain, it is one of the aspects that makes this country truly incredible, and to be labelled otherwise for simply holding an opinion different to your own is, in essence, the very thing that I am disagreeing with and perhaps you need to rethink your morals a little.
No, the reason I voted to leave, amongst others of course, as it was not a matter of only being one factor, was quite frankly the 'sovereign peoples/nation' argument. The EU was set up as trade organisation to help promote peace throughout Europe after two devastating wars. I would reiterate a trade organisation. When this organisation turned into a political, bureaucratic entity that began to interfere in individual nations laws, appeals systems and currency in order to remain part of this 'trade organisation.' it ceased to be so. A trade organisation is established to promote beneficial trading amongst members, not to interfere in the law courts or immigration policy of that country? Yes I know that human rights, rights of the employee, and safety standards are all a good thing, but we live in a modern, developed, educated, democratic country, these are laws that were already in place before the EU mandated it so. There was no need for interference on their behalf. We are the United Kingdom, we have lead the way in the world for democratic procedures such as these for centuries, it has never been necessary for an external political force to establish these rules for us. Ok, so perhaps I am buying into the whole 'red tape of Brussels' argument a little too much, but I believe that the inevitable end of this thread would have lead to a United Federal States of Europe, in which a centralised European government hold sway over the majority of decisions of the member states, and quite frankly I do not believe that is in the scope of a quote, unquote 'trade organisation'. We agreed to join the single market back in the 1970s, when did we agree to the rest? Europe is a peaceful continent now (with possibly the exception of Russia, who aren’t an EU member state anyway so…) and I do not believe that the 'greatest peace experiment in the twentieth century' is necessary any longer anyway. That is why I decided to vote leave.
The United Kingdom is a great nation, both historically and today, why don’t we start acting like it? We do not need the EU, they need us! We are more than capable of not only surviving but thriving on our own. I have read many articles about how we have destroyed the youth of Britain's future, I don’t believe that. I am sure everyone said the same when we joined the single market and I am sure many said the same when we did not join the single currency. Each time we have gone from strength to strength, and only been proved right in our decisions. Our wonderful nation has lead the way for centuries on the world stage, the industrial revolution, the toleration of all religious beliefs, the foundation of truly universal suffrage, the first major female political leader, and the rights of all regardless of religion, sex, race and/or sexual orientation to hold office, work freely, and marry those they love, and now we have lead the way in saying our citizens, and I mean all citizens, regardless of where you were born, have the right to decide the direction we want to move in, away from a broken system that has grown too big and irrelevant from its original mission. Our nation will be stronger for this decision.
The thing I would also like to point out is that we are in the majority! And yet it seems like we are the ones who are being demonised in the media. Our nation spoke, and the loudest voices were those who wished to leave, and yet I only seem to be reading articles about 'what a massive mistake we have made' and the 'injustice of it all'. Where is the balanced argument from those who are happy with this decision? The views of those who think this a great new direction for our nation? Not the racial side of the argument claiming a victory for 'true Brits who have won their country back', but the side of people who want to see our nation thrive on a new, yet some how older, path. Sure, there will be those who are unhappy with this decision who want to have their voices heard, I understand that, but I also think that respect for the outcome is needed. 'The injustice of it all', please. Reading articles about how those in the remain camp have decided to hold protests about the decision is shocking to me. I read an article that stated those who wished to remain have been let down by the system and so have become disenfranchised with not having their voices heard, I would like to point out, and please read this part closely ok, THAT IS DEMOCRACY!!!!!!!! You are not always going to get the decision you want, sometimes you will and someone else will lose out, that is how a democratic process works. On this occasion you found yourself in the minority, deal with it! When did we turn into a nation of, what seems to be, sore losers? Protesting because you didn’t get your way in an open democratic vote seems completely ridiculous to me, and I surely hope I am not the only one who feels that way.
It is a similar – but not the same, I would like to point out – situation playing out in Scotland. Now if you have not found anything I have said controversial up until this point, which is highly unlikely, this you might do so, however, I would like to point out that this is only an opinion I hold on the matter of voting and is in no way an insult against the Scottish people. Ok, so let me explain, I was told not even two years ago that there would be a vote held on the independent future of Scotland, and that this was 'a once in a lifetime vote'. Now all of a sudden I am being told that another one is potentially in the offing. The referendum for Scotland was held, the Scottish people knew that there was potentially an EU referendum to be held if the Conservative party won, and they still voted to remain within the UK. Surely that should mean that you are within the UK come what may? Now I know that the majority of Scotland voted to remain, but that doesn’t negate the fact of what I just outlined. It is similar to what I said above; they are part of the UK the majority of UK citizens wanted to leave; you need to accept that and move forward. Is this going to be a regular thing in Scotland when the vote does not go in their favour? “we wanted 'x', 'x' didn’t happen we want an independence vote” year after year? That is not how democracy works. You cant throw your toys out of the pram every time an independent democratic action is taken by the people of the nation, it doesn’t work like that. That being said, if there is to be another vote on this matter, which I am against, then I think this time it needs to include the entire United Kingdom, not just a small percentage. It is not fair that a decision which effects the entirety of the nation is decided by just over 5 million of its inhabitants. If this means that there is a weighted vote, in which smaller populations in each country are counted for more than a single vote against the larger of the four nations than so be it, but I still think we should all have a say on this matter.
So where do we go from here? Firstly, I do not wish anything to happen to the many, many EU citizens who call this country home, no one should be asked to leave, and to think otherwise is stupidity, they are British like you, me, and anyone else who decided to build a life in these great isles. You are welcome here, and you always will be. That also goes for anyone else who wishes to emigrate here and build a better life, they should always be welcomed to a tolerant and inclusive society, how that is established is not my decision to make, I do think there needs to be restrictions, but this is from a purely fiscal point of view: numbers, not nationalities, but I do not think this should victimise against EU citizens wishing to move here. A points based system such as that of Canada is my preferred method, but as I say, it is not my decision to make.
Secondly, I would personally like to see a stronger relationship built with the commonwealth nations. We have a ready made international community to which we can establish trade links, investment programmes and educational systems which spans the entire globe, not just a small corner of it. These links have been maintained for close to one hundred years in the aftermath of the Second World War, and I think they should start being an important part of our international presence again. A presence built on open trade and unity with these nations. This is a ready built replacement for the EU but can be run as a trade organisation should be. I have read articles that have stated how damaged younger people are by the loss of the potential of being able to move to, and work in 27 other countries. Firstly, it wasn’t ever really going to be 27 countries anyway. Many younger people would never have considered moving to a large number of EU states. Secondly, these countries are still there, they still have standard immigration laws and the possibility of working in one of them has never gone away. But thirdly, and this is where my desire pays dividends, there are 53 commonwealth countries placed around the globe. Greater employment opportunities would be established in these nations with investment schemes emanating from all member states.
And finally, I would like to see a United Kingdom which acts like the world leader it is in everything from manufacturing to LBGT rights, to cutting edge scientific and medical research. This can still be achieved away from the EU, and this is what we need to start doing. Not complaining because we didn’t get the result we wanted, or trying to split up this nation. We have achieved the greatest things in our four countries histories, and had a far louder voice on the international stage when we were a united, independent UK, why would we want it any other way?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that I have made you think a little differently about us on the other side of the argument and I hope that you can start to see things from another point of view.
Yours Respectfully,
Richard Driscoll.
