With only days to go before the General Election, this is your last chance to make a difference.
If the UK goes through with Brexit in any form, we are all going to be screwed. The only people who will be happy will be the crusty old weasels who’ll be clutching blue passports they’ll never use, tears in their eyes, and campaigning that scrod and tripe should only be sold in lbs and ozs.
None of that will do those of us who expect to be around for more than another decade any favours. But that’s all Brexit has going for it. There is nothing else in the bag – a bag that you were told was much bigger than it was to start with.
The number of jobs lost for reasons that are directly attributable to Brexit stood at over 420,000 in late September, The imminent update will likely see it go above half a million. This figure is responsible for £3.6 billion less income and National Insurance receipts, and over £12 billion lost wages. And it will only get worse, because the Brexiters’ only answer is “we’ll be all right because we’re British”.
We won’t be “all right”. We’re not all right now, and we haven’t even left yet. And we haven’t been all right since 24 June 2016,
If we leave the EU, that lost revenue will have to come from somewhere, and that means tax increases. Since Johnson has already promised to rebuild every hospital, and financially support every group whose votes he seeks, and cut taxes for the super-rich, you don’t need to be a genius to work out who is going to end up paying for it. You.
It beggars belief that someone who blusters through every interview with inane comments like “my deal is a super deal and you should all get behind it” and “let’s get Brexit done” – that last one often in answer to completely unrelated questions – might actually be voted into power properly.
Corbyn is no worse, but he’s not much better, either. I still don’t quite understand where the Labour party officially stands on Brexit, even after more than three years. And I’m a lifelong Labour voter and one-time activist. But not right now, while they’re still dithering internally over whether we should Leave or Remain.
For me, my vote is going to the one main party that has openly stated it will stop Brexit. The Lib Dems. I freely admit that I am voting solely on Brexit. I know from experience that no party’s numbers ever add up when the opposition picks them apart during campaigning, and I also know that very few parties deliver everything they promised in their manifestos if they get in. So as far as main policies go, with the main parties there’s not much to worry about. Corbyn won’t bankrupt the country, for example – though Brexit might, and that could bounce back in the future if Labour were to get in.
I’m sure others will vote for Labour for reasons of their own, just as others will vote Tory.
But I hope and pray that the opposition parties – even if it isn’t Lib Dems outright – get enough votes to stop the Conservatives getting back in.
Our futures depend on it.
So think carefully how you vote on Thursday if you’re not one of the nutcases who still thinks Brexit is a good idea, even with all the evidence of the last three and a half years. Vote tactically.