This morning, like the rest of the country, I awoke to the news that the Brexit had become a reality.
Even though I put a cross in that ballot box, I was still shocked and surprised at the result, it felt like winning the lottery.
This feeling was short lived, however, as bitter remain voters took to social media to throw insults at those who voted Leave. In just a few hours since the result, we’ve been called:
- Racists
- Bigots
- Uneducated Morons
- Fascists
And more un-publishable results.
Obviously, the remain voters are angry, they’re furious and they wanted their vote to win but this is a democracy and these insults, instead of shaming the leave voters, are showing the remain voters as uneducated, bitter, bigots instead.
Maybe that was the intention.
In retrospect, throughout the campaigns, the Brexit voters have not thrown shade on the remain voters. Of course, there have been some, mostly from Britain First, who have committed unspeakable acts, but for the majority of Leave voters, we’ve focused on our own reasons and left the remain voters to it.
Only two days before the referendum I was threatened by remain voters, I was called selfish, disgusting, stupid and worse. I was a bad mother, a bad person, a racist bigot all because I voted leave, and curiously, not one of these people knew my reasons for doing so.
I have multiple degrees, and a private education. I follow politics religiously and am usually allowed to see the latest developments before anyone else, being a journalist. From the age of five when Maggie Thatcher was in power, I’ve formed an opinion on my beliefs and I’ve also allowed it to change over the years as I’ve discovered more from each political party.
Being a political journalist is one of the most dangerous jobs in the UK, alongside, obviously, standing for parliament, which was shown with the absolutely tragedy of Jo Cox, who was murdered by the hands of a mad man. This devastating turn of events reverberated around the leave camp and we felt the exact same grief as the remain voters did, we still do. Nigel Farage’s comments this morning were insensitive and cruel.
I hold strong opinions, but I’m not a typical journalist, I have friends in the business who will knock on random doors when a tragedy strikes in a town just to get comment from the neighbours for a story. They’re invasive, they’re rude and they have balls of steel while stopping at nothing to get that scoop. I value people’s privacy far too much to tar myself with that brush. I’m a fluffy journalist, one that endures ridicule from the ones that get out there and delve deeper (regardless of the consequences to others). I don’t sit on the fence, but I report on good news, nice celebrity stories and trends, rather than dragging names through the mud and trying to catch Cheryl Cole out without makeup.
If that makes me less of a person, so be it. I believe my articles bring smiles to a lot of faces, there’s enough anger and bitterness. My books explore world politics and delve deep into the nitty gritty, and they are works of fiction based heavily on fact. My daily career focuses on the positive. It’s my choice, and I made it. And so, it may seem outrageous, that this fluffy writer wants to comment on the Brexit. Why would my opinion matter?
Even if my opinion means nothing, I need to use my voice to speak up for those who voted leave and don’t deserve to be called uneducated or a racist bigot. Immigration was probably a deciding factor for many, but it’s disgusting to suggest that this is the ONLY reason we saw a victory for Brexit.
Remain voters would have you believe that the Brexit voters are uneducated, that 52% of the country have no idea how to understand politics. Interestingly, a LOT of the Brexit voters were people who knew Britain before the EU, the people who lived through the reform and the people who would rather claim back a Britain in post war condition that endure another minute as being part of this system.
Why Did I Vote Leave if Not for Immigration?
A lot of remain voters told me to look at history. I did. Things have changed for the better over the years, and things have changed for the worse. One incredible argument I saw was that Liverpool wouldn’t have the investment to be the City of Culture if not for the EU and how this city was on it’s knees before this millennium EU generosity.
What this person didn’t take into account was that the EU played a part in putting Britain on its knees. The fishing laws made the docks a ghost town, but its ok, the EU invested in architecture so the city is grateful now.
There are also so many people who still feel bitter about Margaret Thatcher. They protested at her funeral and blamed her for the decline of British industry. It was Edward Heath, her predecessor who led us into the EU, she had to pick up the fallout and make the best of it, despite, thinking of it as “the biggest political folly of all time” for Britain and our industries.
Margaret Thatcher never agreed with joining the EU- she wanted the UK to be the industrial powerhouse it had been. Whatever you blame the Iron Lady for, transfer that hate to the EU instead, as she was merely a puppet carrying out orders from our new friends. She fought for our steel works, our fishing industry, our agriculture, and she tried her best to make the best of a bad situation.
Then we have the Euro, the currency we ALL voted against but that the remain voters voted FOR in this referendum. Like decimalisation this integration would see a more dramatic fall than the pound saw this morning, and this would be sustained, unlike the scaremongering about the temporary stock market fluctuation today.
EU single market rules discourage governments from giving financial support to private companies, to make sure “national champions” do not have a commercial advantage over rivals. Those rules meant that ministers couldn’t directly bail out Tata Steel’s UK plants.
I voted for leave as I believe we were great in the Commonwealth, I believe we took a wrong turn in joining in the first place. I know that the £350million figure paid to the EU per week is an untruth, but I also know that the 12billion we’ve had to pay out to cover the extra costs from EU law isn’t.
I know we export a lot to Europe but I know they export much more to us on a country to country basis and they can’t live without us buying their goods and so the scaremongering telling us we won’t have the same benefits is absolute rubbish. We’ll have better benefits as we’ll be on a better foot.
It’s absolutely shocking to me that nearly 30% of UK children are living in poverty yet nothing is done to help those here, in need now? Bank charges and payday loans put vulnerable people further in debt while money is spent retaining a relationship that profits the big cat investors instead.
We’re told the immigrants provide medical services and we’re most likely to be treated by one than made to give up a hospital bed for one. Has no one being following the anguish of the junior doctors? There are less and less signing up to medicine because of the ridiculous working conditions they’re forced to put up with due to EU regulations.
No matter how sympathetic one is to the needs of others, surely some self preservation must prevail before we sign ourselves up for 70 hour weeks and very poor wages.
But to voice all this is racist.
In the EU we’ve had to agree to wind farms, which if the educated voters of the remain camp looked into, are unprofitable hunks of metal that cost a lot more than they generate. Some can’t even generate enough energy for a single house, yet they take up more space and sit and rot until they have to be replaced in full. It’s not cost effective to replace the parts if they break, so we shell out thousands and thousands of parts for one that is new. It’s ridiculous. They may look pretty but they don’t do the job while the green tax still blows our money into the wind.
Yes, things have improved since joining the EU but natural progression would have improved these areas anyhow, alongside the integration of the internet and the development of technology. It’s the latter that’s facilitated improvement, and if things were ok (ish) inside the EU, imagine just how much better we would have done without the EU restrictions.
In fact, if we’d never joined at all, we’d still be part of the commonwealth, we’d still be an agricultural dynasty and we’d still have our self respect.
For the bigger guy, the left wing saver, the big employer, the second homeowner, leaving will sting. For us, the little people, trying to get a foot on the housing ladder, trying to start our own businesses, it can indeed be called our independence day.
In short, I voted LEAVE because:
- I didn’t like my children’s schools being turned into businesses or academies
- I heard that if we stay, the NHS will begin privatisation within 12 months
- I would like to see our industries back, our cars, our farms, our steelworks, our fisheries
- I would like our country to profit off the offshore oil that we’ve had to share until the Brexit (while importing most via a warzone along with threats from Russia to cut us off)
- I would like to see less spent on wind farms, as our research shows this is unprofitable, they’re unreliable and cost a lot more than what their actual output is.
- I’d like to see house prices decrease a little alongside rents and I’d like to see landlords held accountable for renting out unsafe properties and apartments.
- I’d like to see more investment in UK business, in the start up, in the private business, in the sole trader, in the entrepreneur
- I’d like to see our High Streets littered with small independent shops again
- I am an employer and I don’t want to hire people from the EU, I’d like more incentives to hire and train young people from the UK whether they are immigrants or not.
- We can have good light bulbs back
- We can have powerful vacuums again
- We can make our own rules
- Bye bye TAMPON TAX
- We can save £130million moving our MPs from Strasbourg to Brussels
- We can say goodbye to the uneconomical waste disposal, that makes us export our waste instead of burying it and using the land on top for affordable housing (it’s buried VERY deep, you won’t dig up a soiled nappy when planting your Dahlia tubers)
- We can put our country and our needs first rather than adapting our laws to suit the economy in France or Germany. (Think agriculture)
For all those crying today, please remember Switzerland and Norway, they’re the richest countries in Europe and they’re not in the EU. Yes they pay to trade, but they retain complete control.
I’ll post some photos from my trip to Switzerland next week to show just how one country handles being out of the EU.
I’m not a racist bigot but I am voting out and I’m quietly convinced that a lot of Remain campaigners did the same in the privacy of the poll booth – they just couldn’t handle the public mud slinging we’ve had to put up with!
If you’re still feeling bitter, take a look at this picture of BB8 with the Union Jack- it’s great!
