In a clear and well argued article in the Sunday Telegraph of 2 September 2018, Theresa May clearly set out why a second referendum will not be held. She makes clear that the government honour the electorate’s decision that they wanted the UK to withdraw from the EU.
Further, it is clear that it is her decision and the decision of the vast majority of British electorate, who understand in detail the issues at stake, that the decision will result in the building of a stronger country for the long term and future generations.
Following the meetings at Chequers in July the government has had time to break the deadlock of the discussions in Brussels and they have brought a new dynamic team to advance the negotiations. There is every indication that substantial progress has now being made.
Our White Paper proposals which have been submitted to the EU negotiators provide the details of workable solutions to the outstanding problems.
We can therefore look forward to a period when we are not committed to pay a gross sum of £18 billion to the EU and it will also enable us to relieve ourselves of contingent liabilities which we would otherwise have been required to pay to support EU countries, which are likely to go bankrupt or leave the EU in the near future. It is likely that massive sums will be required to bail out Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus. It is also possible that other countries will be added to this list.
As an example, the UK has already paid (via the European Central bank ) over €140 billion to Italy. When we leave the EU we should not pay any further such sums and hopefully we will be refunded the sums that we have paid by the European Central bank.
When we leave the EU we will be able to control immigration to the UK. We will therefore be able to stop or reduce the invasion of the UK by asylum seekers who have landed in Europe and have chosen to take up residence in the UK. For centuries we have accepted a flow of asylum seekers into the UK and they have been absorbed into our population with little or no difficulty. But we have never faced an invasion which has occurred due to the EU’s freedom of movement regulations.
For the last 40 years we have been held back by the protectionist regulations which are inherent in the EU’s philosophy. We have had to comply with laws and regulations based on the Napoleonic code which is totally different to our own laws . (Under UK laws all are able to do anything providing it is not illegal. Under the Napoleonic code no one is able to do anything unless they are specifically authorised to do so.
Our future will lie in our own hands, we have voted to leave the EU, we will be able to trade with the world without the EU’s restrictions. Our costs will decrease while our competitiveness will improve. We know that most of the Commonwealth countries look forward to trade with us because they know it will increase and that it will benefit both sides.
There may be a short difficult period while we realign our international connections but that will be far better than being part of a bankrupt EU organisation. The rest of the world is looking forward to a closer commercial relationship with the UK.
As far as the EU is concerned they require us a lot more than we need them. It is reasonable to expect that the EU will wish to continue on a similar trading basis as we have done in the past and that they will start to negotiate with us seriously as soon as that they know that there is no doubt that we are leaving the EU.
Parliament has already authorised the government to negotiate to leave the EU by the end of March 2019. There is no reason to hold another referendum.
Photo by Arthur Edelman on Unsplash