Kai,
Of course you are right from your point of view. To be frank I agree with you, because I am
not Pro-
Brexit. But I respect the British democratic vote like
Theresa May does. What I wanted to say is that I respect May from the perspective of her position as a
Tory (
British version of traditionalism and conservatism). I believe that
the Remain camp was more reasonable, and fact was the Londeners were
pro-Remain. The young, cosmopolitan, liberal, Yuppie (Young Urban Professional) was
pro Remain (
Pro European Union) in
England. The provincial rural Britain, small town people and the conservative minority in the large cities were
Pro-Brexit and formed a narrow majority.
The
Brexit in my point of view is a disaster for
Great-Britain (
the United Kingdom) and Englands trade partners in
the European Union. The only solution for
the United Kingdom is to nearly become
the 51th state of the USA.
The EU will be tough on
the United Kingdom. If you leave a club, you are not one of them anymore. So
the United Kingdom should work on strang financial-economical, social-cultural, political, diplonatic, trade (import and export), military and human ties with
the USA. A benefit is that botyh countries are English speaking countries which makes the communicated a lot easier than with an allie with a different language, culture, religious base and history. The 2 nations share a history and roots (the Americans with an English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern-Irish -Unionist Protestant- roots). Ofcourse the United Kingdom could also strenghen it's ties with Australia, New Zealand, South-Africa and former British colonies like India, Pakistan, Kenya, Israel/Palestine andother former colonies. Going back to
the Brexit referendum of 23 June 2016. In
Scotland 62.0% vote for
Remain and only 38.0% for leaving the EU (
Brexit). In
Northern-Ireland 55.8% vote
Remain and only 44.2% for leaving the EU (
Brexit). In
England 53.4% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 46.6% for
Remain (staying in the EU) and in
Wales 52.5% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 47.5% voted for
Remain (staying in the EU).
In the large city
Liverpool only 41.8% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 58.2% for
Remain (staying in the EU). In the also large city
Manchester only 39.6% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 60.4% voted for
Remain (staying in the EU). In the University city
Oxford only 29.7% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 70.3% voted for
Remain (staying in the EU). In the other British university city
Cambridge only 26.2% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 73.8% voted for
Remain (staying in the EU). Also
the city of London showed a huge Pro-Remain vote. In
the city of London only 24.7% voted for leaving the EU (
Brexit) and 75.3% voted for
Remain (staying in the EU).
Again Kay, I am
not a
Pro-Brexit nor Pro-May person, but I have respect for her position, struggle and work as a politician. Even though I happen to disagree with her. I have always admired Underdogs, outsiders and loners. Maybe that is my art background, diplomatic nature or the fact that in my work I have to communicate, cooperate and interview people of all political colours. I know all Dutch political parties and politicians of these parties, and also sceptic, cynical, frustrated, irritated and angry non-voters who consider all politicians as crooks, frauds,
elitist cronies (people of "
the old boys club" or "
the golden circle"). These working class, lower middle class, farmer and unemployed people (you have a social group of unemployed people in continental Europe and the UK who feels left out, replaced by non-Western migrants, aysylumseekers/refugees -read Muslims- and Central-and Eastern-European working migrants -Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Romanians, Bulgarians and others-) often voted for Brexit and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) or belonged to the Hard Eurosceptic wings of
the Conservative party (the leave camp) or
the leftwing populist Eurosceptic wing of
the Labour party (
Jeremy Corbyn supporters).
In
Coventry however 55.6% voted for leaving the EU (Brexit) and only 44.4% voted for Remain (staying in the EU). Coventry is a city with a population of 360,100 people. In the city of Dover 62.2% voted for leaving the EU (Brexit) and only 37.8% voted for Remain (staying in the EU). In the towns Brighton and Hove 31.4% voted for leaving the EU (Brexit) and 68.6% voted for Remain (staying in the EU) and in Birmingham the voting was a a close call with 50.4% voting for leaving the EU (Brexit) and 49.6% voting for Remain (staying in the EU).
The Brexit in my opinion will be only succesful of the British government manages to keep the backstop in a Brexit agreement with the EU. A Brexit without the backstop will be a disaster for Northern-Ireland.
The Irish border question is a controversy about the impact that Brexit, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, will have on the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border on the island of Ireland, in particular the impact it may have on the economy and people of the island were customs or immigration checks to be put in place at the border. It was prioritised as one of the three most important areas to resolve in order to reach a Withdrawal Agreement.
The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum on 23 June 2016 which, if implemented, would make the Republic of Ireland–Northern Ireland border an external EU border. All parties have stated that they want to avoid a hard border in Ireland, due particularly to the historically sensitive nature of the border.
In order to keep a friction-less border, the European Union proposed a "backstop agreement" within the Withdrawal Agreement called the Northern Ireland Protocol. This would come into force only if there were no other solutions at the time, and thus Northern Ireland would continue to operate some EU Single Market rules and remain within the EU Customs Union, for as long as may be necessary to avoid the need for border checks. Although the British government agreed with the principle of such a backstop at the December 2017 meeting, it rejected the legal text prepared by Michel Barnier's office because it created a legal and regulatory barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The British side asserts that Northern Ireland cannot be treated differently from any other part of the United Kingdom.
Good Friday AgreementSince about 2005, the border has been perceived as being invisible with little or no physical infrastructure, due to processes put in place by the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. This agreement has the status of both an international treaty between the UK and the Ireland (British-Irish Agreement) as well as an agreement of the parties within Northern Ireland (Multi-Party Agreement).
Following Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will become an external EU border. In theory a "hard" border could return, with both fewer and supervised crossing posts, to support the necessary customs infrastructure. Both EU and UK negotiating teams have made clear that this outcome would not be acceptable in any final exit agreement.
US Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations for the Belfast Agreement, has commented that he believes the creation of a border control system between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland might jeopardise the agreement.
Research published on 18 February 2019 by Irish Senator Mark Daly and two UNESCO chairmen indicated that reinstating a hard border would result in the return of violence.My (Pieters) question to the British is: Do they understand the consequences of a
hard Brexit. A good element of the EU was and is the European financial, social-economical, trade/commercial, safety (security) and peace element of it. Also the British profited from the huge united European continental inner market. With a hard Brexit the United Kingdom will have to negotiate 26 seperate bilateral trade deals with all these EU countries. It will lose the benefits of the Schengen Area, like air borders, EU visas (a common visa policy), police cooperation, and personal data protection. The British people will be restricted from the free movement of persons of the Schengen Area, between the Schengen countries.
Links:
www.britannica.com/biography/Theresa-Mayen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Maywww.britannica.com/biography/Jeremy-Corbynen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbynen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_CableCheers,
Pieter
