Boris and
Nigel, the Laurel and Hardy of the Leave EU campaign.
I have been
considering for quite some time whether or not to do a blog post on
the EU referendum. The figureheads for the vote leave campaign appear to me to be a couple of comedians, bungling Boris and someone
who appears to be drunk most of the time. But this is too
serious an issue to make too much light of the issues.
The
media, particularly the populist press, are all for leaving. And
for some reason most of the Catholics that I have heard express a
view on the referendum, are for leaving
Europe. However I think we are much better off in the EU
therefore I'm finding as usual my views on contemporary issues are at
odds with the majority.
Among
traditional and orthodox Catholics vote leave sentiment is almost
unanimous and I am baffled by this. Do they think that
Britain will suddenly become Catholic if we leave, that the abortion laws will
be overturned, that homosexuals and gender benders will be halted in their
relentless infiltration into every part of society? That the BBC will suddenly
become fair and unbiased? That immigration,
particularly Muslim immigration, will suddenly stop? And that
the country will become better off economically? I believe the opposite
will be the case in all of these areas. Or perhaps it is down to people
like Boris telling us we will not be pushed around by a load of Brussels
Sprouts telling us that tomatoes are now to be labelled fruit!
However, seriously
my two main reasons for staying in are immigration (or
rather the type of) and the economy. Most of the immigrant problem for
us was with Muslims from the commonwealth, mainly Pakistanis -
and not Catholics from the EU (Central Europe) most of whom eventually go home
again speaking perfect English. My second reason is that I think
Britain has done very well in Europe economically; before joining we were
struggling below France and Italy now we are the 5th richest nation in the
world the 2nd in Europe.
So what do I think will happen if we leave?
Immigration
Immigration will
increase but they will no longer be EU citizens and Catholics they
will I believe be mainly Muslim. Where will they come
from? I believe where they have always mainly come from; the
Commonwealth - Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. There are already reports
that Ukip/leave are dangling visas in front of Britain's ethnic
minorities.
The
French may ask us to remove our borders from French ports and put
them in England. So the second source of Muslims will be the Middle East
via Europe, a thing that the French are helping us stop - at the
moment. So what would we rather have: the Pakistani taxi driver or the
Polish plumber?
On The
economy
We will have
no say on European laws but will still need to conform in order to trade in
many areas.
We already have
a taste of what will happen to the pound, it's already dropping like a
stone at the moment because of opinion polls - this will put up fuel costs and
therefore pretty well everything.
The Bank of
England will need to protect the pound so they will put up interest rates
therefore raise costs for businesses putting a fragile economic recovery in
jeopardy.
Foreign
companies who moved in to set up when British industry was struggling after the
squeezes of the 1960s like the car industry, may reconsider. In fact when
we entered Europe in the early 70s we were known as the "sick man of
Europe" now we are its second largest economy. Britain has done
very well out of Europe but we can't see it.
Bungling Boris at London Gay Pride march |
On Culture
On influence and
culture we are right at the top, we are simply the most powerful country in
Europe, and it's not always been a good thing for
Europe. Our language is the second language of most people in the
EU, our music is heard throughout Europe, our strong links with the USA
give us even more power and cultural influence.
There is of
course a down side to all this cultural influence, we were one of the first
countries to legalise abortion and homosexual acts. We have the biggest
"Gay Pride" marches in Europe, London being one of the biggest in the
world let alone Europe. All pushed via an English speaking media that everyone
respects and is led by the very "fair and
balanced" BBC. I'm beginning to think that it will not
only be a bad thing for Britain to pull out of Europe but a good thing for
Europe if we leave.
On Sovereignty
Whilst we
all need to conform with the same trading and work practice laws as
the rest of Europe because it's only fair and right, This is
probably a greater burden on the smaller states of Europe than on its 2nd
most powerful economy. There needs to be a level playing field for
all trading and manufacturing EU nations. On Sovereignty this is not an issue
there are areas of the law where Europe cannot nor does intervene.
On other
major differences between the UK and the EU, we have the pound, we drive
on a different side of the road, where are all the rest Europe
have things like compatible electrical plugs etc we do not. And
no one is forcing us to change.
So what's
the real problem? Is it just perceptions generated by poor quality
journalism?
However I
think leave will win, perhaps this will be a good thing and remove
the influence of the most morally liberal country in Europe - the UK.
So many
people who have Irish ancestry are applying for Irish passports that the Irish
passport office has recently needed to employ an extra 200 staff. However I
will be sad if we leave and as a British Catholic, perhaps I will apply for
dual nationality as I can.
By the Prayer Crusader with St Philomena
Being outside of the EU does not grantee an immigration free country, both Switzerland and Norway have huge immigrant populations. In fact Switzerland in now made up of 25% non Swiss.
ReplyDeleteRubbish, we should try and emulate these countries!
DeletePersonally though I don't have a vote and don't currently live in the uk, i'm for leaving.I think it would be a mistake to reduce it down to personalities. We wouldn't have to look for far to find unsavoury behaviour among remain politicians. My reasons for hoping to see Britian leaving eu are simple. Do I desire to see England as a sovereign state, that makes its own laws and rules that governs its people as it sees fit. This is the kernel of my argument. Not economics imagine a country going to war to fight for its independence and while on the way to the battle took out a calculator and started doing all the economic benefits of whether to fight for its independence , such an attitude would be tantamount to treason would it not. As for immigration thats not a reason for me either to leave. But a country should have a right to decide to let in people or not let in people not directed exteriorly. As issues go the eu is a hot bed of liberalism it has foisted abortion and homosexuality and every kind of evil on the Irish republic and would try and foist alot more on it if people didn't resist. The eu is a very powerful corrupt and extremely anti christian organisation with no accountability for its decisions run by faceless beauracrats steer clear of it. Don,t have time to go in to all the facts here but check them out .As regards homosexuality it cast an Italian mep ( rocco ?)from a prominent position because he was opposed to homosexuality. As regards having a pint in a pub well you could do a lot worse than that. Basically its about sovereignty the English people making their own laws.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid some of these statements are not really true, and full of the half truths and misconceptions that have been so prevalent in the debate on Europe. England like France and other European countries are in fact Sovereign states, they raise their own taxes and enact their own laws, in most cases speak their own languages and have their own cultures. It's only really in areas of trade and working practice were we all need to conform to create a level playing field. As for faceless bureaucrats I think this is an unfair expression here, every country has civil servants their job is to carry out the administration and application of the will of the government. As for Ireland and abortion and homosexuality this was not foist on the people by the EU but its own government and people blinded by their own media with help from the British media. Take for example Poland, abortion is illegal and when the EU castigated her over this law the Poles simply said you have no right to tell us what to do on this issue and the vast majority of the Polish people where behind the government on this. Likewise when the EU told Slovakia to take Muslim refugees the Slovak PM simply sad no you cannot force us on this issue and the people where behind him.
DeleteThe Italian EU commissioner Rocco Buttiglione was rejected (sadly) by other commissioners but they hand no power to oust him as he was appointed by a government he left of his own accord because of left-wing pressure form home, and not by faceless bureaucrats therefore we all bear a responsibility to know who we vote for in any election. In fact if we had more democracy in the EU it would undermine national governments and they would not want this - it is the national governments who appoint the commissioners if they and the EU president were directly elected by the people of Europe that would undermine Sovereignty of the EU counties because then they would have a mandate from the people.