Obviously the first thing to do is rejoin the EU, to get our cheap labour, transient workforce back instead of importing more permanent workers (and their families) from the other side of the world.
Only allow workers who have a job into the country (this can be done under EU regs but the Tories did not implement it because they wanted to promote our exodus from the EU and thought this would soften it – they wanted the public inflamed).
Process illegals quickly (not putting them up in hotels forever) so they can be shunted off back to where they came from or integrated into useful work thus taking the burden off the tax payers.
Have routes where immigrants can legally apply and be processed without resorting to people smugglers.
Provide schemes to properly assimilate and integrate immigrants so that they are not causing resentment among the native population (language and customs classes, schooling, support).
Deport immigrants guilty of crimes or antisocial behaviour.
Demand that all immigrants obey all the laws of the land and live by British values of compassion, fairness and empathy.
Ban unBritish practices – genital mutilation, Burqas, Niqabs, child marriage, honour crimes, religious intolerance, spreading militant extremism (fascism and religious intolerance – and make it clear that any such activity (even when practiced abroad to avoid the law of the land) will be dealt with harshly with deportation and criminal proceedings.
Ensure that immigrants are not seen to be given priority over the needs of the native population.
Regulate the numbers and type of immigration so that it meets our needs without putting undue strain on services and infrastructure or upsetting the natives.
I think a sensible programme of compassion, empathy, and support, coupled with a clear, strong set of demands, strong reinforcement and action and a transparent set of values and expectations, would meet the needs of the country and take the venom out of the immigration problem.
Well the Brexiteers, the ERG and Populists, ratcheted up the fear around immigration for their own ends. Racism was unleashed with a wave of hatred and fear. It empowered the extremists. We’re reaping the rewards. A bunch of racist Nazi thugs opportunistically jumping on the bandwagon.
Sadly, it undermines any constructive discussion on how we really handle immigration – what is good and what is bad. Brexit has chucked out whole rafts of much needed European workers (carers, NHS, teachers, doctors, fruit pickers and catering). We’re replacing them with Chinese, Indian and Africans who are far less transient! The antimuslim rhetoric is obnoxious (and nobody despises religion and particularly indoctrinating evangelists, Muslims and Catholics more than me). In a tolerant society we respect other peoples’ beliefs no matter how we feel about them.
Ukraine is a reminder of the stupidity of mankind. Our psychotic leaders keep taking us down this destructive path.
Have we learnt nothing????
I remind everyone – the major reason behind the creation of the EU was to bind countries together in trade and prevent us descending into this madness again!
Now that the ramification of the disaster involved in leaving the EU is becoming clear the majority of the British people are realising that they were lied to. It is not going to save us money. It is not going to get more jobs or stop immigration. It is not going to stop terrorism. It was just a nostalgic trip back to a time that didn’t exist led by a bunch of extreme nationalists.
Now we know what we were really voting for we want a second vote!!!
What is wrong with the idea of a European Superstate?
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America and Australia are unencumbered with countries. They operate as a series of States or regions that operate autonomously with an overarching federation joining them together. The same could be said for China, India, Russia, Canada and New Zealand – large land masses with sizeable populations united in confederations. This unity gives them strength and power.
Would America be a powerful nation if all its States operated as separate countries? I think not.
Do minority groups totally lose their identity? I think not. The Sioux, Maori, Amish, Hippies, Surfers and a thousand other minority and ethnic groups seem perfectly capable of maintaining their culture in the midst of the prevailing culture.
When I live abroad I do not automatically lose my culture or values, even if I assimilate.
Countries are largely artificial constructs whose borders are arbitrary and fluid. They were once based on tribal, ethnic groupings but these have become either diluted with time or altered through the vagaries of war. Many were simply drawn up by various powers without consideration of ethnic groups, cultures or tribes.
I believe it is time to do away with countries altogether and move to a more global perspective. Our world has universal problems that surmount these artificial borders. We cannot deal with inequality, multinationals, pollution, war, poverty, justice, conservation, nuclear proliferation, crime, terrorism, fanaticism or a hundred other things when operating as isolated countries.
I see the possibility of a unified Europe operating as a single Superstate, much in the same pattern as the USA, as an exciting prospect.
Why not?
Why not improve our cooperation?
Why not pool our resources?
Why not unify our efforts?
We would be much more effective, powerful and efficient. We would not be reinventing the wheel in every individual country. We would talk on the world stage with a bigger voice. We could press for a fairer world and deal with a lot of the world’s problems more effectively.
So what has the EU ever done from us – apart from a bureaucratic system, mass immigration and costing us money?
Well –
It has brought peace for the longest period of time in European history – that was why it was set up in the first place
It has created a forum for dialogue between European countries that cannot be underestimated
It has provided international legislation and enforcement of environmental issues that has stopped pollution and produced countless conservation schemes
It has created a multinational Human Rights that protects the rights of all people living in the EU and sets an example to the rest of the world
It has brought in legislation to protect the rights of workers and their health and safety
It has enabled free trade that has improved the British economy. It enables trade without restraint, tariffs or visas.
It has brought in regeneration programmes that have transformed inner city areas such as Liverpool, Newcastle and countless others
It subsidises areas with great poverty or who are in need – Scotland receives a lot of money as does Wales, Ireland and parts of England
It has financed scientific research and enabled projects (such as CERN) that no one nation could have managed – space projects, University research, international cooperation
It has instituted conservation projects and protected nature in large projects throughout Europe
It subsidises agriculture and practices that protect nature
It has enabled Britain to operate as a gateway into Europe. Many firms, such as the car industry, Siemens alternative energy, Banking and Finance and many manufacturing companies set up production and headquarters in London and Britain to service the continent. This has greatly contributed to our wealth.
It has provided a source of labour and brains that has kept our science at the top, brought in consultants and specialists, doctors, nurses, teachers, skilled individuals, builders, field workers, care home workers etc. who have provided services and kept our economy going.
It has financed joint ventures that would be too risky or expensive for any one nation to attempt (eg. aviation)
It has enabled our students to go to any EU country to study and broaden their horizons and students to study here and set up crucial links. We are attracting brains.
It enables me to travel to Europe with needing visas or passport control.
It enables cooperation between EU countries to coordinate intelligence, operations against terrorism and crime.
It provides a powerful bloc for negotiating deals with the resat of the world.
It provides a stronger, unified voice in the world that carries the weight of the combined population and economies.
I would not underestimate the huge contribution the EU has made. Of course, you can believe all the lies, exaggerations and fabricated stories put out in our incredibly biased media. The picture they paint is simply not true.
Do we get value for money? I think so. I reckon the benefit to the economy far outstrips what we put in.
Are there problems? Too true – the bureaucracy, costs and corruption, unelected bodies, negative effects of mass migration, freedom of movement of criminals and terrorists, and the difference between the members with weaker economies and those with stronger are all problems.
Could they have been addressed without Brexit? A resounding yes.
It is not beyond wit to modify the system to deal with corruption, bureaucracy and unelected people. (Not that our politics doesn’t suffer from all of these problems).
There needs to be checks put on migration.
In time the weaker countries will come up to the level of the stronger.
Imagine the United States with borders between States, visas, tariffs, and restrictions. What a nightmare. That is what we will be doing.
But we are out. That is it.
The challenge now is to ensure the government keeps the cooperation, the outward looking stance, the environmental, science and conservation work, the human and workers rights, the free trade without tariffs and the skilled workers we so desperately need – to maintain public services with a poorer economy.
If we are not a gateway to Europe and all those firms and headquarters creep away to Berlin, Paris and the rest, we will be screwed. We have to keep them here. That means a free trade agreement and that means free movement. If we close our borders our economy will dive.
That is the battle.
Do we want a soft or hard Brexit? Who is making the decision? – An unelected right-wing government.
The pressure from Big Business is to exploit people for more profits. The pressure from little Englanders is to go all patriotic and nationalistic.
The people who will inevitably suffer will be the poor, the disabled, elderly and public servants. I guarantee that the ones at the top will still get their bonuses!
Right now I am thoroughly depressed. I fear for my children – all four of them at risk.
Interest rate rises will plunge tens of thousands into despair.
Corbyn was the silent man. He has to go.
Cameron has gone.
What now? Blundering, bluff of blustering Boris? Snide viciousness of Gove?
More austerity is inevitable.
How many companies will flee?
How far will house prices drop?
The pound will rise but to what level?
How many billions will the country lose?
How much damage will the uncertainty do?
How will the terrorists exploit the confusion?
And Russia? – more war in Europe?
Already the reassurances of Stupid Boris and Gove have proved inept and naïve – perhaps even cynical.
I fear for the future of the country. This is a self-created crisis and nobody knows how bad it will get. The saddest thing is that the ones who will be hit by it will be the ones who gleefully voted for it.
All we can do is hope and try to minimise the effects and heal the divisions.
