British common sense

What has become of common sense in Britain?  Did it all depart at 04.40 on June 24, 2016, when the BBC’s David Dimbleby announced that Leave had won the European Referendum?

I guess maybe Voltaire was right ‘Common sense is not so common’.

I won’t go into all of the different promises and fears and such that were generated, by both sides, during the campaign, other than to say that Project Fear seem to be very conflicted, post-Brexit.  On the one-hand Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England keeps banging on about the negative monetary impact of Brexit - though one must question the credibility of his statements with barely two weeks of economic data to support them.  On the other hand we have George Osborne, currently still the Chancellor of the Exchequer, now saying that we will ‘thrive”, since we have voted to leave the EU.

Today, Chuka Umunna, a Labour MP, with a voice dripping with disdain for the common man and woman and their democratic rights and exercise thereof, has launched a so called watch-dog  to monitor performance of the Brexit campaign in the implementation of the claims and ‘promises’ that were made by the Leave campaign, during the referendum.

If you know Chuka or any of the other Remainiacs, could you maybe pass on the following?

Leave said that the UK contributed a gross £350 Million a week to the EU.  They went on to say that some of the money, which post-Brexit would no longer be sent to feed the EU  monster, should be spent, instead on the NHS.   Chuka and co. are now saying, “well why aren’t you spending it on the NHS then?”  (I hope that sounded as petulant and foot-stomping as I intended because that is how the Remainiacs sound, to me!)

Let’s consider that. 

Firstly, the United Kingdom is still a full member of the European Union.  Not surprisingly, this means that the EU still requires us to make that weekly contribution.

Secondly, Leave are not the government.  They cannot decide on the spending priorities of the government.

Personally, I am a long way from convinced that throwing ever larger amounts of money into the NHS represents a sensible use of taxpayer funds. I don’t think that the NHS’ problems are monetary but rather they are deep and structural.  Of course Chuka and co. think the solution to every problem is simply to throw someone else’s money – the taxpayer’s – at it.

I started by suggesting that common sense seems to have left the UK.  Perhaps it has just gone on a well-earned rest.  As a Leaver, I certainly think that common sense and decency was displayed in abundance when people voted in the EU referendum.  The people of the UK heard the arguments and decided that, on balance, the UK would, as George Osborne now agrees, prosper outside the EU.  They knew, because they used common sense, that there would be a period, after the vote, when the country would still be in the EU and that the UK  becoming free of the EU and regaining control of its own destiny, would take time.  Chukka and all of the Remaniacs also know this.  They are just trying to make cheap political capital by claiming otherwise and, because they believe that the average voter made the ‘wrong vote’, seeking to overturn the results of the democratic process.  The premise is two fold – Leave won the referendum on false promises and lies and therefore we need a re-run.   

As said the ‘promise’ about the gross £350 million weekly contribution was not false.  The underlying promise was not so much about the money as about who decided how that money was spent – the unelected EU or the democratically elected Westminster government?  That hasn’t changed. When Britain leaves the EU, the British parliament will decide how we spend our national income – all of it.  We won’t be in a position where we have to send a gross £350 million to Brussels, every, single week.  We won’t be in a position where we have to accept the EU deciding where the returned money – something less than 50% of our contribution - is spent. The elected representatives of the British people – the ones that we can kick-out or fire, at an election – will decide.  I appreciate that this doesn’t fit with Chuka and the Remainiacs idea of democracy but there you go. 

Call me a cynic but re-running an election or a referendum because a politician lied or over-promised would leave all democracies in a state of perpetual elections.  Come election-time, voters use common sense and sift through the promises, half-truths and down-right lies and then reach a decision of who they most believe or who is most believable.  Those voters know, absolutely know, that some or much of what they are told by politicians, is simply self-serving and has to be taken with a mountain of salt.

I said earlier on this blog-site that what we now need is a period of calm.  That still stands.  Britain’s political leaders and leading business people need to just quieten down.  They don’t need to be on the air waves saying that the referendum vote should be ignored or somehow re-run until the ‘right’ result is achieved.  Most critically, they need to stop talking down the UK.  I get a strong sense that the Remainiacs are relishing any negative economic news that surfaces and are seeking the fulfilment of their pre-vote prophesies of doom.  This has to stop.  This is impacting not only the UK but also other economies.  I am not talking about the breaking Italian banking crisis, though I am sure that Brexit doesn’t help that situation.  

During the referendum campaign, many Leavers accused Remainiacs of not loving their country and instead preferring the anti-democratic EU, now is the time for Remainiacs to prove them wrong and either accept that Britain can survive outside of the EU, or at least just shut-up.

One particular person who should maintain a period of silence is Mark Carney.  Every time he speaks, the international value of the pound declines.  While that is good for our exporters and those companies with overseas earnings, it runs the risk of stoking inflation in the UK.  So Mr Carney – go on vacation, get a rest but most importantly, shut up.