The general election on 7 May 2015 will quite possibly be the most important election during my lifetime (so far – nearly half a century, folks). If you thought 1997 was a biggie (and for my generation it certainly was), this one has even more at stake. For the first time in quite a long time, we have a genuine choice between two diametrically opposed ideological visions: on the one hand, the incumbent Prime Minister offers us an even smaller state with radically reduced public services putting us on a par with Europe’s outliers; on the other hand, a return towards the European mainstream (I’d like to be more emphatic than that but that would be overstating it).
This is already quite enough to make this an election worth fighting for. But there is an even bigger issue at stake, one which would determine the UK’s entire future. And one on which there has been an alarming degree of silence during this election campaign. David Cameron is offering an in-out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. The referendum would be held in 2017 after an attempt by the government to persuade the EU to “reform”. If satisfactory reforms are not forthcoming, the implication is that the government would not campaign to stay in. Even if it were to campaign for an in vote, who can say that the public will not treat the referendum as a chance to protest against an austerity government heading for its mid-term trough?
Abandoning its EU membership (‘Brexit’) would be catastrophic for Britain. I hold this to be self-evident, and if you disagree then you might as well stop reading now because anything I say from this point forward is not addressed to you. For a mercantile nation with a history of internationalism and pretensions to global influence, Brexit would be crazy. But it could happen. Cameron will not get the “reforms” he wants. (I use quotation marks because “reform” in this context is a transparent euphemism for the repatriation of powers. God knows the EU could do with genuine reform, but that is not on the agenda, certainly not in the context of a UK-driven treaty renegotiation.) He has painted himself, and the country, into a corner. If he wins, there WILL be a referendum in 2017; and there is every chance that the country will vote to leave an unreformed EU. Decades of toxic disinformation and woeful public education have queered the EU’s pitch, and the organisation has not helped itself.
All this is to say that it is essential for the future of the country that Cameron does not remain Prime Minister after 7 May. The duty of any patriotic voter is to do whatever he or she can to avert that possibility. Treat 7 May as EU referendum day. Cast your vote in whichever way is most likely to oust Cameron from office. Do it for yourselves, for your children, your neighbours, your pet, your Queen and country.
Why would “a mercantile nation with a history of internationalism and pretensions to global influence” wish for one moment to remain within this EU, with no democracy, crippled common policy, predatory trade practises and a determination to confront its largest neighbour to the East by ever further advancing its military bases while pruning defence spending?
Sorry I did read one sentence beyond your warning, being a strong believer in both Brexit and common sense. Nevertheless can anyone make an argument for this EU, I have yet to hear one that is not shot full full with holes, let alone addresses the reality that Britain is an island, had a Commonwealth and that its peoples still feel far closer to those living therein than they ever could to those also trapped within this appalling EU.
“with no democracy” – I beg to differ
“crippled common policy” – I assume you’re referring to the CAP, in which case please read this.
“predatory trade practices” – see above. You don’t like the policy, engage in the democratic process, that’s what it’s there for. (I disagree, of course, and fail to see how an independent British trade policy would be any less predatory except insofar as it would lack the muscle to be predatory.)
“a determination to confront [Russia]” – this is an extraordinary piece of doublethink which I will not stoop to rebutting.
“the reality that Britain is an island” – the reality that the British Isles are geographically, culturally, historically part of the European continent and European civilisation you mean?
“had a Commonwealth” – interesting use of the past tense, because perhaps you conflate the Commonwealth with the Empire?
“its peoples still feel far closer to those living therein” – you may very well feel far closer to them, but I certainly don’t. I object to the arrogance with which a small, self-selecting group of people presume to speak for the nation as a whole.
I’m not massively worried about brexit should a referendum happen, because good people like yourself will be able to produce coherent arguments as to what we gain from EU membership, and what we’d lose by leaving. I fully expect liberal media outlets to present those arguments alongside those arguments from those that want brexit. There’s little we can do about the tory/ukip press I guess, but I don’t think a majority of people are influences majorly by those publications personally.
In other news, I take it you’ve come across voteswap.org. It’s an (apparently legal) way to game the system to hopefully prevent another tory coalition, although the reasons stated are more about rejecting austerity than avoiding a referendum.