Thread by @tony_nog

1) Austerity, #Brexit and fake narratives
1 of 2 threads on fake Brexit narratives doing the rounds
Some Labour types have continually tried to tie Brexit to Austerity as an excuse for Labour's Brexit appeasement - "we must respect the causes"
This, frankly, is nonsense

2) If you look at the actual demographics of the vote, the austerity argument doesn't stack up.
There are exceptions of course however it's fairly clear austerity didn't cause Brexit because those who *perceived they were most at risk* voted Remain

3) Car workers in well paid jobs didn't vote Leave "because they had nothing to lose", they voted Leave because they believed (wrongly) they were safe

Council Tenants and those who'd paid off their mortgages voted Leave
Private Renters & Mortgage holders voted Remain

4) Pensioners largely voted Leave (apart from older people who remembered WW2)
Young people on insecure zero hour contracts - Remain
Labour Voters were most hit by austerity
Labour Voters were and are *increasingly* remain
Conversative voters, likely least hit by austerity-Leave

5) All the voter demographics show, if you personally believed (rightly or wrongly) that you were safe you were more likely to vote Leave
There is *potentially* a tranche of long term unemployed who thought "f**k it" but this is hardly austerity = Brexit

6) This "austerity=brexit" is a deeply cynical ploy to excuse Labour for supporting #Brexit, and to tie one issue (albeit an important one) to another
It also provides the cheap shot of "well if you support Remain you support the status quo of austerity you selfish Elitist"

7) Interest in the EU among the population dropped off a cliff during austerity and only peaked again during the campaign. If you want to argue that people's fears & needs were manipulated during that period fine, but do you really think that manipulation should be rewarded?

8) The actual demographics of Leave are far simpler
If you hated all that multicultural gay marriage nonsense you were likely with the people on the left of the diagram
If you were scared by the rate of change of society, you probably did too

9) if you were Older and a Tory Supporter, you were more likely to vote Leave
if you were younger & a Labour Supporter, you were more likely to vote Remain

10) If hanging, blue passports, hitting kids in schools and a return to guineas and shillings floats your boat, well you know the story by now

11) So here is the real question for Corbyn supporters.
#Brexit is essentially a victory for all of the attitudes Labour supposedly stands against. It is an attack on the hopes & futures of young people & those most hit by austerity
Its a movement of intolerance & division

12) If this is all true, how did Labour find itself supporting this victory? Why are you pretending its all about Austerity when Brexit will make it worse for those people? Why are you supporting a right wing anti progressive flat earth agenda?

Because,unfortunately,you are
end

13) Postscript to this thread:
These are demographics - they are generalizations. "Not every Leave voter was a racist" and all that. Some voted leave because of Greece, many normal people thought they were voting to save the NHS or that we'd be better off.

14) However, at the same time "all the racists voted leave" is a reasonable generalization. Trying to understand and adapt to the drivers of the least liberal thinking amongst us (likely a significant majority of Leave Voters) is a futile & ultimately damaging exercise

15) Just being brutally honest, the argument on Brexit isn't Left vs Right, it's authoritarian vs liberal. There's always been a group of people who need certainty & order, and "strong men" to "put things right". They're the people on the left of this chart.

16) If you're letting their motives & attitudes be hidden under a fake narrative of "austerity caused Brexit" rather than a regressive cultural backlash, then perhaps you need to take a look at yourself and ask yourself what fight are you actually fighting, and why?
end