Now that the EU referendum is over and the rapidly dwindling UK has voted for the false hope of Brexit, Somerset Labour Politicians reflect on the landscape we find ourselves in . Labour had backed REMAIN and were pushing hard in the last few weeks of the campaign resulting in 51% Remain vote in Mendip, 47% in Taunton, 43% in South Somerset,39% in Sedgemoor and 39% in West Somerset. The doomsday scenario of a gloating Nigel Farage talking about ‘independence day’ whilst at the same time apologising for his scandalous ‘migrant’ poster and admitting his £350m a week EU budget reclamation ‘for the NHS’ was a mistake, is now with us. Cameron has resigned to make way for pro-Brexit Tories, of the plainly nastier and more right wing Thatcherite nostalgic variety and our friends across Europe are asking themselves why we’ve done this. Who can tell them?
The ‘Sovereignity issue’ was a con
Bridgwater Town Council Labour Leader Cllr Brian Smedley said “The EU Referendum was a disaster from start to finish. Peoples standards of living are now threatened, Britains standing in the world is crumbling and an undeserved victory has been handed to the far right. The only good thing to come out of it is that it’s architect Cameron is going – hoisted by his own badly judged petard. Tossing a coin is simply no way to run a country.”
“The irony will be lost on the Brexiteers who say they are fighting for ‘sovereignity of our Parliament’, which we already have, which by overwhelming majority supported staying in the EU and yet they didn’t give it a chance. You can’t make major decisions by asking everyone in the country to suddenly have an informed view -that’s why we have a Parliamentary democracy where people are elected to consider those decisions daily as a job.”
“The vote was almost 50-50 and the country is now terribly divided. Not only that but the Nations of the British isles are divided and despite what Farage says there may not even be a United Kingdom to have ‘independence’ before very long as Scotland tries to stay in Europe and the Irish re-open their border conflict which had been previously solved by years of delicate compromise and in the framework of joint membership of the EU.”
“The people have ‘spoken’ and the politicians they despise now have to pick up the pieces of what they decided. In the face of a jubilant right wing It is now up to the Labour Party to reunite itself with its core vote to protect jobs, public services and living standards from the instability that Brexit will bring as the pound crashes, the euro stumbles and the European project falters making the world a less peaceful and secure place”
“Locally, the French have now been handed an excuse on a platter not to proceed with the Hinkley Point build and here and across the country our hard working migrant workers who have contributed so much to our economy and our society will be feeling hurt and less secure this morning. The only possible gleam of light is that the socially divisive Ukip might just have voted itself out of existence.”
UK is now divided
Sedgemoor Labour Group Leader Cllr Mick Lerry said “The UK is now divided and in great danger of collapse as a sovereign body. The Tories split over the EU has led to brexit and an uncertain future. Britain has shifted from progressive politics to the right where the outcome will be uncertain for working people. It not an election of a new leader for the Tories that is needed; but a general election. Prejudice, blame and fear have divided the UK, which will prove damaging to British values and real social justice for the British people.”
Immigrants were scapegoated
Chair of Bridgwater & West Somerset Constituency Labour Party Cllr Kathy Pearce said “This is a sad day. People, who should have been angry about the austerity measures, instead used their vote to scapegoat immigrants and vote for an economic uncertainty that will hit the poorest the hardest.”
Young people voted Remain old people for Leave
Bridgwater Labour Party Youth & Student officer Cllr Diogo Rodrigues said “It’s is a sad day for the U.K but democracy has spoken. The results are in and they show that young people voted mainly to remain and the older for leave – we just can not get away from our parents and grandparents telling us what to do! I hope that we can unite, move forward and make the best decisions possible for our country as quickly as possible.”
Brexit will have ‘significant financial impacts’
Somerset County Council Labour Group Leader Cllr Leigh Redman said “Following the decisions made over night and this morning I feel as local Councillors we will need to sit back and watch as things unfold, it will be interesting to see how all this effects our communities locally, I feel the decision to leave may have significant impacts financially in the short and possible medium terms, as a Bridgwater Councillor I will be watching for changes that effect local people and doing everything in my power to ensure we benefit and are not disadvantaged. The final investment decision (FID) for Hinkley C needs to come soon, once we get a positive FID this will trigger a huge fund release that will put money into our communities. ”
As the consequences of the vote on Thursday begin to emerge we learn of ‘Leavers’ who are not just surprised by, but are also having second thoughts about the referendum outcome. As we hit the predicted ‘bumps in the road’ we need to work at healing divisions and ensure that those whose welfare is at greatest risk from any economic downturn are protected.
As a ‘Remainer’, in these early, anxious days, I feel we have a particular responsibility to reach out to, and reassure two groups in our midst.
First, children and younger adults, especially those who were unable to vote but are old enough to have real concerns about what this means for their future. We know that a large majority of young voters wanted to remain in the EU. As a society we must agree to make the fulfilment of their hopes, aspirations and opportunities a priority as we, and they, face this unpredictable future.
The second group are those from EU and other countries who have made their homes here, so many of whom are essential to keeping afloat our local services and – as we in Taunton heard from the Managing Director of the Ministry of Cake – our local industries. On hearing accounts of some who now feel they are unwelcome in Britain, I feel an urgent need to tell them “that’s not who we are!”
Paul, the trouble is your argument appears to be that you believe Nigel Farage wants to help the working class and will save the NHS. So it’s unfortunate for you today that he’s admitted that this particular piece of propaganda which was plastered all over his battle bus, was in fact not true. Obviously Farage is a right wing Tory . At least. Clearly the result of this is other even more extreme right wingers across Europe now having the confidence to call for referendums in their countries to bring down the united Europe project and to re kindled the flames of Fascism. I’d suggest that was a bad thing. Brian
you said ” You can’t make major decisions by asking everyone in the country to suddenly have an informed view -that’s why we have a Parliamentary democracy where people are elected to consider those decisions daily as a job.” I totally disagree.. the word parliament comes from the french saying ” to talk lies” cameron has lied on many small issues and should not be trusted with any important issues.. lying is excepted to be the norm. the people are fed up of the lies and schemes being thought up by those who we vote in to run this country. I voted out ,I have have always voted labour, and I do not have a problem with immigration. the in crowd have labelled us as predijuce and do not like that we have a positive believe system in britain growing economically outside of the EU,just like our neighbouring countries (outside of the EU) who are doing far better than us with all the benefits of imigration and equal trading rights as we do.Nigel Farage stood up for the working class people,something labour use to do. its a fact you lost alot of labour votes thanks to nigel, meaning you no longer represent the working class. being in one of the slowest growing economies ,the proof is there that the EU is not working . my hourly rate has stayed the same for 15 years,prices continue to rise, more taxes are invented , and services continue to be cut .FACT. in this “growing” country we have 17000 less police than we did in 2010. we have a national health service that is being crippled by underfunding. with cameron giving permission for the USA to run it, if we voted to stay in. the NHS has saved my life twice. if we adopt an americanise health care system , I would be in so much debt,I would probably have to sell my home. if we voted to stay in would there be anyone worth voting for, to run this country who could stand up to speak truth to the EU that there might be a few issues that us brits dont agree on, when it comes to the EU making decisions for us. clearly NO. as cameron has tried but has a 100% failure rate. you said “The EU Referendum was a disaster from start to finish” would you have still said that if we were staying in? . your comments are full of predijuce and single mindedness. the EU needs to be reformed dramatically before I would like to vote back in. I would be very interested if you had anything to add that might sway me back into a labour vote. thank you