It is sobering to think that so few words are going to have such a big and lasting effect on the nation. And whether it is a good or a bad thing, it will have a big impact.
I believe that the judges were right to decide that Parliament needed to vote, and that Government could not invoke Article 50 without Parliament's approval. Whatever happens next, at least no-one will be able to say that Article 50 was triggered improperly and claim some sort of compensation from the State.
It also seems that a number of MPs will vote against approving this bill, which will lead to the triggering of Article 50. I think that is only right as well. The basis for that assertion is that the vote was nearly a 50-50 split. Almost the same number of people voted for Brexit as voted against it. There were also a number of people who could have voted but didn't, and when you take their numbers into account, only 37% of the electorate voted for Brexit.
On that basis, the claims by Tory MPs and others that they are enacting "the will of the people" seem bogus. The people who didn't vote either did not have enough information (or misinformation), or, perhaps they were just happy with the status quo, the way things were? I would argue that actually, with less than 40% of the electorate having voted for Brexit, we shouldn't be galloping towards the exit with such enthusiasm.
I think that the Tories, whether they voted remain or leave, see this as an opportunity to throw off the "shackles" of European legislation and regulation. But David Davis has claimed that workers' rights will be unaffected, and we are going to approach the WTO (World Trade Organisation) with exactly the same tariff schedule as we currently have under the EU umbrella. So if nothing is changing, what is the point of leaving? I believe that the Tories see this as a chance to have a "dynamic and thriving" economy, but if they are going to keep exactly the same conditions as we currently have, I'm not sure that I see the point. If, when they study the relevant bits of legislation, they decide that they'd like to keep those bits after all, because actually workers' rights and blue flags on beaches are the right thing to do, what is the point of leaving?
The "state" will have to increase in size, as well. All those monitoring and regulatory bodies which the EU currently maintains will have to be set up from scratch in the UK. We will have to increase the number of border guards and visa stampers currently employed. The annual national budget will have to go up to cover all the bureaucracy that we will have to manage, which was previously handled by the EU, or rendered unnecessary by our membership of the EU.
And this is all Cameron's and Farage's fault. Even if we make a success of Brexit, and there is a chance we might, there should be no argument over the fact that it will cost us money. The Brexit vote was offered to the people by Cameron to settle some internal Tory party wrangling, and he never thought that people would vote for it. So he never put in place the proper safeguards; that over 80% of the voting public had to vote, that >66% had to vote for Out, etc. And so Cameron and Farage should not receive any public honours - no knighthoods, no OBEs or CBEs, or similar. Cameron promised to take us through the Brexit negotiations, and as soon as it didn't go his way and it looked like there was a bit of hard work involved, he jacked it all in. Now, apparently, he is getting paid tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of pounds for giving speeches. So Farage and Cameron have massively inconvenienced the country and shouldn't get any thanks or praise for what they've done.
I'd rather we didn't leave the EU, but then I've never known any different environment. We used to be outside the EU, and we got along perfectly well, so I don't see why we shouldn't do so again. Companies who are working on slim margins might go to the wall, and a large percentage of people may not interact with other European countries at all, so they won't feel the impact at all. But with the change in the exchange rate imports should get more expensive, and that will lead through to higher prices on the high street. My pension fund has increased a lot over the last few months, and that is because the stock market indices have gone up. But the stock market indices have gone up because £ Sterling is worth less than it was. If I was able to access the money in my pension now, the worst possible thing I could do would be to try and spend it overseas. Something that cost $100 in the US, would have cost me £69 last June (exchange rate £1 = $1.45) and today would cost me £80 (exchange rate £1 = $1.25). TW would love me to take her to the U.S. for a shopping trip, but if everything in the U.S. is suddenly 15% more expensive, due to the deteriorating exchange rate, then it is even more unlikely now than it was last May.
Anyway, I've blathered on for long enough. I do have another couple of thoughts, which I may note down separately.
TTFN
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