Join the European Movement!

Posted by Barbara on January 31, 2022 in Blog, Brexit, Consumer issues, Covid-19, Europe, Living today, society | 4 comments

What links Tory grandee Michael Heseltine, Labour Peer Andrew Adonis, Green MP Caroline Lucas, Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon? They are all pro-Europe, and not afraid to stand up and say that Brexit was a huge mistake for the UK.

The 2016 referendum was billed as a choice between fetters or freedom, incarceration or independence, submission or sovereignty.  Posters were spread across the country warning of swarms of dubious-looking migrants, promising buses filled with cash and a rosy dawn free of bureaucracy and red tape, with sunlit uplands filled with shiny happy people.

Some of the population who voted in the referendum believed these promises, enough to ensure a small majority could win. Others thought that they would be taking back control of… something. Others were convinced that they could teach the ruling elite a lesson.

Nearly 6 years on, this country is poorer and more divided than I can remember. The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse than that caused by the pandemic, according to Richard Hughes, chairman of the UK fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Hughes has said the OBR expects leaving the EU will cut GDP by around 4% in the long term.

There is now a border in the Irish Sea between mainland UK and Northern Ireland, which is able to continue trading with the Republic of Ireland on the same terms all of the UK had when it was a EU member. Trade between the two halves of Ireland is booming. For businesses in the UK however, buying and selling into the EU has become a bureaucratic nightmare. There are complex regulations at every stage of the import and export process, resulting in additional costs and time scales. Forget those promises of getting rid of red tape: thousands of companies are giving up – the new costs slice into their profit margins, making the process economically unviable. A report on the effect of Brexit on small businesses can be found here.

As predicted, we have shortages of key workers from the EU, many of whom have responded to the ‘hostile environment’ created by Brexit by voting with their feet and relocating in mainland Europe, where they still have full freedom of movement, goods and capital.

There are several organisations who coordinated visits by schoolchildren in Europe to the UK. They used to be able to come as a group on a single travel document organised by their school. Those days are over; now, every child must have a foreign passport. Many European schoolchildren’s families cannot afford – and do not see why they should buy – an expensive passport for their child to come to the UK. That child might have become a student here. That child might have encouraged his or her parents to visit the UK as tourists and spend money here. I gather that Ireland is benefiting hugely post-Brexit from this; they speak English there too.

I have chosen to put my energies towards the organisation which speaks for devastated Europhiles like me; the European Movement is a cross-party organisation which highlights all the benefits of a close relationship with the EU. We accept that Brexit has happened, but we see clearly what a disaster it is for the country. I am Chair of our local branch and have now been voted on to the National Council and National Executive. I urge you to find out more and consider joining; the larger we become as an organisation, the louder and more influential our pro-European voice.