Thread by @EUrologyReg

Many of the Quitterati, when challenged on Brexit, always say that they knew what they were voting for?

Really? Well, next time they say that, why not tell them about the plight of Anguilla. 1/

Anguilla is a small island of 17000 people in the Caribbean, measuring 16 x 3 miles, which happens to be a British Overseas Territory. It actually fought Harold Wilson's government in the late 1960s to REMAIN British instead of being brought under the rule of St Kitt's. 2/

It’s a popular tourist destination, and many thousands of people visit it every year for its natural beauty and beaches. 3/

So what the hell has this small island in the Caribbean have to do with Brexit? Well, if you look on the map, its surrounding waters are EU borders because the closest island, only 8 miles away, is St-Martin/Sint Maarten, split between France and the Netherlands. 4/

Saint-Martin is classified as an “outermost region” of the EU, and is offered the full acquis communautaire according to the EU. Saint Maarten and Anguilla have a “special relationship” with a member state of the EU, which are the Netherlands and UK respectively. 5/

Anguilla therefore has associate membership of the EU, through its constitutional link to the UK, and is classed as one of its “Overseas Territories and Countries”. The UK government, through the Governor of Anguilla, is responsible for many affairs. 6/

Anguilla is heavily dependent on Saint-Martin for vital commodities, for example >90% of its fuel is shipped through Sint Eustatius (another nearby Dutch island), fuel which not only generates electricity but is also vital for desalination of drinking water. 7/

Tourism is the main driver for the Anguillan economy with 1000s of visitors each year, but 95% of those enter the country through Princess Juliana International Airport on Saint Maarten. 8/

Even more eye-opening is healthcare; Anguilla’s largest hospital has only 32 beds which provides limited diagnostics and secondary care. Incredibly, only 4 patients a year are permitted transfer to the NHS under outdated laws, and only after fulfilling exhaustive criteria. 9/

This is despite many Anguillans having worked in the UK and contributed to the NHS. As a result, many Anguillan patients have to seek their healthcare on Saint-Martin, which they can access only because of EU membership. 10/

As for aid, surely the UK government provides this?

No.

Anguilla, despite being ruled by Britain, does not receive any support from the Department for International Development! It is the EU that provides the sole significant budget for this. 11/

Anguilla received only £141 per person of UK Overseas Development Assistance from 2012-14, compared to £66290 per person for St Helena in the same period. Yes it’s due to individual British policy, but the EU helps make up the shortfall. 12/

There are many more issues arising from Brexit that could affect Anguilla, but these are some of the main ones. 13/

All of the above is a very brief summary of this report published last year by the Anguillan government, with frankly much more detail and transparency about the challenges posed by Brexit than anything the actual UK government has bothered with.

westindiacommittee.org/wp-content/upl…

If this is the first time you’ve heard of this issue, are you surprised given the media block the BBC have put on Brexit? It is just yet another issue raised since Article 50 was triggered that was given no consideration at all in the campaign, just like the Irish border. 15/

We can only see what the negotiations bring. But in the event of No Deal (which I still think is possible given the toxicity of Brexit) you can see that Anguilla’s fuel, healthcare, tourism, aid, and much much more, will all be thrown into chaos. 16/

This is all unless the British government vastly increases the amount of expenditure on Anguilla, and reforms some of its outdated laws, especially those relating to healthcare and transfers into the NHS. 17/

So if the Quitterati still can’t accept they didn’t know what they voted for, tell them Anguilla’s story and ask them if they really voted to make the lives of these people who fought to remain British worse off? /END

PS If anyone else does know much more up-to-date information (who knows, maybe commitments have been given by the UK government), then please do tell.