Viewpoint / EU referendum: Facts please, not rhetoric
The decision whether or not to leave the EU is one of the most important political choices the UK will make in this generation. What makes it a difficult choice, however, is the appalling nature of both the campaigns, writes Alex Garrick-Wright.
There are two competing Leave camps, one of which started legal action because it wasn’t picked to be the “official” leavers, fronted by half of the most unlikable and untrustworthy politicians in the UK, and whose campaign is reaching Donald Trump levels of parroting provably-false statements.
On the other hand, the Remain camp is staffed by the other half of the most unlikable and untrustworthy politicians in the UK and peddles fear from an ivory tower of smugness.
Both camps are off-putting and, frankly, dubious. Both set out a near-apocalyptic future: Leave claim that if we stay, we will be crushed under the boot-heel of an Orwellian superstate made of foreigners, while our pockets are rifled by immigrants who will outnumber us in a matter of weeks, simultaneously taking our benefits and our jobs (an uncomfortably xenophobic argument designed to rope in all the racists who share Britain First pictures on Facebook).
If we leave we will apparently be transported to a wonderful, pastoral version of the past, where Vaughan Williams is played on a loop, Britain rules the waves, and every pub sells real ale with a smile to a predominantly Anglo-Saxon population.
Remain, meanwhile, claims that if we leave the EU, everyone will be put on the dole, the sun will finally set on Britain and we will become an international pariah, like a colder, wetter Cuba (although without Cuba’s excellent public health system). Voting to remain in the EU will, however, see things continue fairly as they are now, with some changes and allowing the UK to pretend it still matters on the world stage for another century.
Both the Leave and Remain campaigns have filled the political sphere with poison and division, instead of having proper political debates on facts and issues. The EU referendum has been hijacked by the Conservative Party as a glorified leadership contest where, whoever wins, the whole country loses. It may be a symptom of the times, when a 140-character put-down on Twitter has more weight than actual political discussion, but it does us all a disservice.
As EU nationals in the UK, even those who have lived, worked, paid tax and raised families here for years, are barred from this vote, all the rhetoric has been focused on the ‘British’, a disgustingly insular approach that flies in the face of reality to invoke the bizarre Last of the Summer Wine image of the UK that is so often relied upon by the right-wing to influence the public.
Just as unhelpful are businesses wading into the fray. As a business’ main concern is for their profit margin, their only reason for picking their side is because of how it will affect their own pockets, the good of the country be damned.
All the information to make this decision is out there, it’s just not being given out by either Leave or Remain. But it is out there, if you look for it.
Important decisions should be treated with some level of gravity, based on information and reason. If you’re of the opinion that ‘trusting your gut’ is the way to go with making a choice like this, you might as well cast runes, get your tarot cards read or disembowel a chicken and look for the answer in its entrails.
Both sides have genuine arguments, we just aren’t hearing them. And so the decision will be made without thought or wisdom.
Genuine facts and information are purposefully scarce, so that on voting day many will vote with misconception. Many will vote to reject a system they don’t understand, for reasons that are untrue, with consequences that are not hard to predict.
Rather than influence and reform an imperfect EU, we may yet quit in a blaze of prideful glory, and then have to turn around to an affronted Europe and ask for EEA access or trade negotiations, where the EU will hold all the power.
We will have to play by their rules and abide by their regulations as we do right now if we want to trade with Europe, our biggest single trading partner. If we don’t want to, then no trade deal.
Flawed as it is, the EU will wield vast influence over the UK, whether we’re in or out. If we’re in, at least we’re at the top table and can affect some level of change and compromise. If we’re out, we’ll be slapping them in the face one moment, and begging for a bilateral trade agreement the next. It’s bitterly ironic that in voting to leave the EU, the UK may actually wind up handing over more power to them than we already do.
Whichever way you vote, please do so with reason, not rhetoric, with the consequences of any decision you make in mind.
This is the first article of a two-part series by Alex Garrick-Wright who graduated with an honours degree in law from Strathclyde University, specialising in European law. He wrote his dissertation on the balance of sovereignty between nations and the EU.
Here are a few links to some fact-checking websites. Some are media sources and some are provided by EU institutions. Full Fact is the UK’s independent fact-checking charity.
http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35603388
https://fullfact.org/
http://www.europarl.org.uk/en/media/euromyths.html
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/explained/myths/myths_en.cfm
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