By Press Release
You can move seamlessly from France to Belgium and then into Germany at 130kph on the motorway, but try and travel from Dover to Calais and return, and there’s a problem. Six years after Brexit, the French still insist on forensically examining our paperwork. How odd then that they permit thousands of refugees (and Albanian migrants) to leave France without any checks whatsoever. Next time you cross the channel, save yourself some hassle, go via dinghy – absolutely no documentation required!
Are we Brits really more dangerous than we used to be, or are those tedious French border inspections a punishment for leaving the union? I think we all know the answer to that – but Leave voters failed to appreciate how awkward our neighbours would be if we left.
We’re still handing them billions of course; British negotiators comprehensively failed to get a decent deal for the dosh. In advance of the 2016 vote, I remember saying to my pro-EU kids, “Don’t worry, if we leave, we’ll agree sensible arrangements because that’s in everyone’s interests”. I was completely wrong; the EU was determined to make an example of us, and they have.
If you knew then what you know now, would you vote the same way? Many of us understood that Brexit could be difficult for a while, but we failed to see a global virus or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine making things worse. This week, inflation in France and Germany hit 9.9 per cent; ours is 10.1. If you’re a Remoaner these are inconvenient facts, but what else can they do, other than keep hurling abuse and insults at leavers?
No credible UK political party has any intention of negotiating a return to EU membership. Labour is fearful of the Red Wall backlash and the Lib Dems are still rebuilding after their disastrous coalition. Remoaners are boring, but we should pity them. Democracy handed them something they really didn’t want, and they have no means of changing it.
Personally, the more difficult the EU makes things, the more certain I am that we did the right thing. Our current government is hopeless and unpopular, but it is our government, and we’ll get a chance to change it soon enough. So, if your mortgage payment trebled, get over it; thanks to Covid and Putin, the entire world is in the same boat.
We British are right to moan about the EU, but it’s our lot at Westminster who cut local government funding and ruined the police and criminal justice system. It’s because of them you fight to see your GP, and “our” NHS, is in constant crisis. Waiting lists have topped six million, and don’t get me started on ambulance response times or adult social care. Local schools failed too, with even more cuts hanging over them.
Bizarrely, despite Britain not working, we have the highest tax burden for 70 years – I know, it doesn’t add up, does it? Where’s all the money going? Over the last 12 years the Tories have made a right Horlicks of everything, and all they can say is “things would be a lot worse under Labour!”
Really?
I do have a solution to the migrant crisis; let’s call it the Holmsey plan. To function, Britain needs EU and overseas workers. Why not just have a fair and easy-to-access immigration system? At least migrants could work legally; I’m sure they’d love our high tax economy, and we’d save millions on their hotel bills. My first visa application office will be a beach hut in Calais, and the second in Tirana, capital city of Albania. Come on, it’s genius, isn’t it?
