Brexit Apathy

“The death of democracy...will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” These words of Robert M Hutchins seem rather pertinent to our current situation. Every day I ask myself again whether it's time to “let it go” and accept Brexit. And every time I ask that question, two big issues rise up to block the way.

The first is the unbelievably cavalier way in which the individuals most affected by this are being treated – the EU nationals who live in the UK and the UK nationals who live in other EU countries. We have, as the saying goes, thrown them under a bus. And when you consider the stir caused this week by CCTV footage of a London jogger doing exactly that to a woman on the pavement, it brings home what a shocking analogy it is. As long as the politicians insist on playing games of chess with real peoples' lives, there will be millions of us who dig in our heels and say “unacceptable”.

The second big stumbling block to accepting the outcome of that appalling referendum is its foundation on lies. Now I fully accept that I am part of what has been so lovingly dubbed “the liberal elite”. I'm not sure I can fully define it though it seems to have something to do with my education and good fortune of living in the more propserous south. But I am not at all unsympathetic to the plight of the millions in our country who feel left behind and short-changed by life in the last 40 years. Like so many, I have for years been baffled by political and commercial obsession with the south, and especially London. I have consistently voted against parties who pursue their own agendas or who seek to protect the status quo to the detriment of the people they should serve. So when I am asked why I can't just accept that people are fed up with being ignored and it's their time to take back control, I am forced to sit up and listen. And I do listen. I hear about poor wages, stagnant job markets, appalling housing conditions, dependency on foodbanks, NHS waiting times, failing schools. All of it makes me furious too. But how is this a justification for the lies of Farage and co? Not one, not a single one of these issues is addressed by the mendacious ideology that underpins the break with Brussels. The louder voices on social media that threaten violence and civil unrest if the “will of the people” is not respected need to explain why it is, that if the case for leaving is so strong, why have they built it on lies?

I have always been, and remain (no pun intended) open to hearing valid arguments for leaving. Of course. Why wouldn't I be? And I suspect the vast majority of Remoaners are the same. After all, contrary to popular insults, vanishingly few of us have personal links to the institution of the EU that we are trying to protect. We are all engaged in the same patriotic pursuit of wanting what is best for the country and for the greater good of the people who live here as well as our neighbours and the wider world. So if leaving the EU is really good for us, why wouldn't we all be behind it? What motivation would there be for staying with something that was objectively damaging?

We now know that the star attractions of Brexit were fabricated: we never did pay £350m a week to Brussels, and the NHS certainly won't be seeing any of it any time soon. We never lost our Sovereignty so there is nothing to regain, as confirmed by the Government's own Brexit Bill. The fishermen won't gain exclusive rights to fish in our waters, as clarified last week by Gove. Turkey is not on the brink of joining the EU. The low-energy lightbulbs against which the Brexiteers rail, were a British pet project. We pushed them on to the EU. Immigration is not out of control – in fact, more and more industries are coming forward begging for special status to be allowed to maintain freedom of movement - the NHS, hospitality, and farming being just the tip of the iceberg. As for EU migrants coming here to take our benefits – well it's true that in theory they could, but only for 3 months maximum. The EU law already exists that allows member countries to send home immigrants who cannot support themselves. Other countries already enforce this – we in the UK for some reason best known to Mrs May when she was in the Home Office, chose not to enact this power. But even despite this voluntary failure to protect ourselves from abuse, the facts show that EU migrants are, by a massive margin, net contributors to the nation's coffers.

Meanwhile, the very real difficulties of leaving are daily made manifest. An enormous divorce bill, nurse shortages, slumping car manufacture, rising inflation, intractable problems of the Irish border, disruption to the food chain, chaos around consequences of leaving Euratom, queues at airport security, serious possibility of flights being grounded, potential motorway gridlock in Kent, banks and businesses moving abroad, redundancies across industry. The list goes on. And on.

Should we stop with Project Fear (aka Project Reality) and instead present project Sunny Uplands of Remain? Yes we can do that too. How about 70 years of peace on a continent ravaged for centuries with appalling fighting? How about unfettered access to the biggest market place in the world? How about opportunities to live and work and fall in love with our fellow human beings from across the continent? How about the right to take holidays and explore with no visas or unecessary paperwork? How about the ambitious dream of human collaboration on a huge scale, playing out not just in politics but in cooperative projects of science and the arts? These things are a birthright to the under-45s. How can we strip them away and not expect dismay and objection?

Meanwhile, we have given the green light to our government of the day to enact sweeping legislative changes without parliamentary scrutiny. We are choosing to undo centuries' worth of progress in the way we are governed. Stop and think about it. Do you like the idea that Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg might have the power to change our laws according to their personal whim? Or what of the other extreme – if somehow Corbyn takes office and is the man to see the folly through to completion. Do you fancy him getting to tinker with legislation in line with his agenda and no need to ask Parliament's permission? News this week is that the government is planning to remove the right of citizens to sue the British Government for failing to execute their responsibilities – for example in controlling air-pollution. Why would we want a situation where we remove our own protection?

The weird thing in all of this is not the noise coming from active “remoaners”. The bizarre and scary thing is the level of apathy from the electorate at large. We know that most people are opposed to Brexit. Even if no-one has changed their minds since that slimmest of voting-margins was recorded 14 months ago, demographic changes resulting from deaths of older voters and coming-of-age of younger voters means that a vote tomorrow would be in favour of Remain. We know that the vast majority of MPs and Lords are opposed to Brexit.

Why are most people sitting back and watching this unfold with barely a whisper of concern? Our democracy has been hijacked: the lies of the tabloid newspapers combined with dark money have conspired to bring calamity upon us. Are we just going to shrug?

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Einstein may have had more direct acts of evil in mind when he wrote these words, but the principle can be extended – if we are not careful we will destroy all that has made our country great. And it is those who currently watch without doing anything who hold the key to making it stop.