Well, that was a complete cock-up from the Remain camp. From the UK as a whole. I had a very good time campaigning on the the Labour Remain Bus, twice. First time with my old chum from the days of the National Youth Theatre, Chris Bryant, and second time with Alan Johnson, who could well be leading the Labour Party before long. My analysis is quite simple.
The presentation of the question has to be delivered in a balanced way by our media. That means 50-50 coverage for both sides, however, the country didn't, I believe, split 50-50 at the beginning of the debate. The Remain side probably had over 70%, but that 20% difference gets completely neutralised by the media who have to make it seem even.
I certainly don't apportion any blame to the media, just the rules that shackle them. This in itself probably swept a lot of voters along, believing they had would be joining a growing tide. Then the biggest single factor, the presentation from the Leave campaign that immigration IS THE MAJOR ISSUE. (The biggest change, we will see in the years to come, will be the economy.) They shouted it from every rooftop. The amazing thing, again, in my opinion only, is that immigration will not be altered much either way. But they made it seem it would and the jingoistic emotions that bred became mixed very fervently with the dissatisfaction of the Tory party. People are fed up with the way politics is done. It's not surprising when you have a tier of very wealthy individuals at the top claiming we are all in this together. We simply aren't. Never were. Never allowed to be by that very same group of people.
The banking crisis back in 2008 had the Tories demonising Gordon Brown as the architect of the disaster. They knew it wasn't true, but that didn't stop them continuing to blame him. I think the electorate was cleverer than that on the whole, but many still believe Gordon to be the devil. This peddling of blame and lies has come back to bite the very people who peddled that blame culture. This has polarized the country with people being whipped into the jingoistic frenzy by a man/politician, who doesn't even have a seat in our parliament, Farage. He has tapped into the disgust that the nation feels with the "elite" class. Well done him. That is the only nice thing I will ever say about him, because I think his small mindedness, his little England-ness and his Make Britain Great Again-ness has done serious damage to the international standing of our wee island. What would have kept our island/nation is being within a huge trading group wherein we had actually had influence. Now we have none.
So, this man we laughed at at first has had his manipulative and destructive way, and where do we go now? And is he the one to really blame? I truly hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come in the US. PLEASE NOOOOoooooo.
When David Cameron came to lead his party he was exactly what they needed. A cohesive power to draw a very divided party together. A party that some felt might never see power again. He seemed to be in the Blair mould. When he and Osborne managed to pin the financial crash on Gordon and boot him out of office they led us into a period of austerity where the blameless, the huge huge majority of the country had to pay for the guilty few. So much so that they were able to continue paying bonuses and buy up all the faltering businesses of the blameless, feathering their nests whilst still claiming we are all in this together. Now, that smugness has led us to two referendums. The first we got away with, just. Thank goodness. (Quick question, why can't we vote if it's a break-up of our Union? Maybe have the Scots vote count double the rest of the union, but at least let us have our say!) Now, this seeming "soft" leader, middle ground, but elite, has managed to completely dissolve our nation. We have left Europe, there is no way now we will keep Scotland, and even Northern Ireland could leave !!!!!! David, what the %$%W$#&%^#^%#* have you done?
I pray there is some constitutional way we can dissolve this result, or slow down the process enough to re-negotiate in years to come. But I don't see that the United Kingdom will ever be the same. What a dreadful shame. I feel heartbroken. I hope all the good politicians out there, and the vast majority of them are in this for the right reasons, are able to piece what they can back together. Perhaps they will think a little harder about asking us to do their job for them next time. Let's give that large chunk of 18-24 year olds something to look forward to.
As for the Labour party through this, well, I am disappointed and worried that Jeremy's lack of passion has driven people away. I love having a party leader that fights the good fight, and believes, like he does in social justice so strongly. BUT, that does mean he has leadership qualities. You need to fight the good fight FROM THE FRONT. I really hope the unions pull back on their threats to those who challenge Jeremy. Again, I am a huge fan of Brotherhoods and Unions, but we desperately need leadership to a) get the Tories out, b) get Labour in and c) hold onto our United Kingdom.