1/ Welcome to the end of year Brexitlandia bumper edition 📚
2/ In 2016 the UK had a referendum to leave the EU. U.K. Gov said it would implement the outcome of the vote but made no plans as to what would happen if we voted leave 🤔
3/ In fact lots of key people such as Farage, Johnson and Gove all tried to run away rather than seize the moment and deliver what they campaigned for. 🏃
4/ At this point many would have queried why they should do so and whether one should have misgivings about the result. Gove and BOJO 🤡did not look very happy with the result
5/ Eventually a new leader, the Maybot was found and despite having voted remain in line with Gov policy adopted the hardest of leave positions in her Lancaster House speech 🤔
6/ Some found this odd given the relatively narrow margin of victory, the lack of GOV planning and the uncertain geopolitical climate 😬
7/ Especially when over 3.2 million citizens in the U.K. faced an uncertain future and over a million more across the EU 😱
8/ And as we look back over the last year what have we learned about the impact of the vote to leave the EU? 🤓
9/ Well the rights of over 3 million citizens are still not guaranteed (the phase 1 deal is not (yet) legally binding as the Maybot & ultra Brexiters point out). For all the citizens & their families impacted by the vote the lack of guarantees is shameful.
10/ When the Home Office wrongly sends out deportation letters, the Government regularly lies about the economic impact of EU citizens and the powers it had to control FOM, you have a Government that is not interested in evidence led decision making
11/ When that happens you know the Government is not interested in seeking a consensus on how best to deliver the referendum mandate in a way that might try to bring the nation together and not damage it 😡
12/ And so it has proved. The Government lost a court case trying to exclude Parliament, it bribed the DUP to cling to power having lost a majority, it fiddled parliamentary committee majorities and sought to use Henry 8 powers
13/ It failed to condemn the press who called judges enemies of the people, or who called MPs mutineers
14/ It told the press to be more patriotic
15/ It used the politicised term "citizens of nowhere" and has done little to try and calm a fractured nation
16/ It tried to avoid giving Parliament a meaningful final vote on the Brexit deal even though the European Parliament gets one and our own Parliament is sovereign. Having lost that point in a vote it is still trying to cirumvent that point😤
17/ It has at times threatened the EU by suggesting it would withhold security cooperation and change its economic model. It has burned goodwill with its closest neighbours 😡
18/ It made no mention of the GFA in the Government referendum leaflet or how that would impact the delivery of Brexit. 🤐
19/ It has not sought to honour any of the pledges made by the leave campaign including guaranteeing rights of EU citizens or more money for the NHS 🤢
20/ It had a PM who drew her own redlines in January 2017 when Cabinet had its first discussion of the end goal of Brexit in December 2017 😳
21/ It triggered a 2 year clock with no plan or agreed UK position 🙄
22/ It lied to Parliament about the work done on preparing for Brexit. We know the Treasuary did an assessment in April 2016 that says the UK will be poorer
23/ It lied and said it had done 58 assessments which then it said turned out not to exist. It then published 39 cut and paste style papers that an 8 year old could write
24/ But it is has adopted OBR estimates that tax revenues will be 60bn less over 5 years 😳
25/ It now seems the treasuary has updated its reports but these are not available to the public.One may ask if the new reports were positive why not publish them?🙄
26/ One may also ask if it is to protect the negotiating position of the UK is that actually true? The EU did trade deals for the U.K. and so will have a good grasp of our economy 🤔
27/ Its own impact assessments show the U.K. will be worse off and the UK has said nothing to discredit those or to supersede the April 2016 reports by the treasuary. 🤐
28/ So can assume that we will be poorer - the only question is by how much. And the Givernment had repeatedly lied to the public about its work and its assessments 🤥
29/ It has also done nothing in preparation work if the negotiations fail. More work has been done at Rotterdam port than Dover. Why?
30/ It has agreed to pay 35-40 billion to the EU and the true amount could be higher still, for example if the UK wishes to extend the transition arrangement 😱
31/ It has also agreed in the phase 1 deal that the fallback will be to comply with SM and CU rules in perpetuity with no representation 😲
32/ And still 18 months on there is no real plan as to what the UK wants to achieve and whether it is deliverable. That is not an argument to support reclaiming sovereignty. That is an argument that the UK needs to face reality ☹️
33/ My own view was that we were better off remaining. Even for eurosceptics the UK had the best deal. And that was thrown away 😡
34/ And the last year has shown all Brexit has really delivered so far is a divided nation, a deceitful Government and a country that is ill prepared for 29 March 2019.
35/ My hope is that in 2018 the UK comes together, does not continue to trash its reputation, does not unilaterally seek to trash its economy, has a Government and Opposition that are honest with their people
36/ And to those in limbo who made the UK their home and contribute socially, culturally and economically, sorry for what we are putting you through. 🕊
