The Choice

Just as the EU has deliberately promoted confusion amongst the people of Europe for decades in order to hide its salami-slice political take-over of the continent, so the Remain camp has used the same tactics to cloud the issues involved in this referendum.

To the point where it has become increasingly difficult to see the choice we face with any kind of clarity or objectivity.

Arguing at great length about whether we give £350m/wk to the EU or just £271m/wk is pure obfuscation. Either way it's a hell of a lot of money for no return - but the debate has been reduced to the accuracy of the figure as opposed to the principles involved. This is deliberate - it stops people from considering the realities of our relationship with the EU.

And it is a scenario that is played out across the battlefield of referendum debate on every issue - Remain tries to get into the detail and the minutia of every aspect, rather than seeing - or allowing to be seen - the bigger picture upon which our choice should actually be made.

Let's just look at the Remain position/slogan: That we are 'Safer, Stronger and Better off in a Reformed EU'.

Well we are clearly not 'safer' having open borders, particularly given the absolute mess that Merkel and the EU has made of its immigration policies, the rise of terrorism in Europe, riots in the streets of Germany, Sweden, Italy and France. This 'safer' line is simply untenable, but is being submerged under the guise of 'we need to cooperate with security services in the EU in order to protect ourselves from terrorism'. There is simply no reason why this would not continue to happen if we were to leave the EU - but with controlled borders we would undeniably be in a better position to ensure the safety of our citizens. Undeniably.

'Stronger' - because we'd be part of a bigger state. And yet we have almost no influence on the EU whether we're inside the tent or not. They simply do not listen to us or take account of our concerns - to the point where Dave feels we need a legally binding (it isn't by the way) opt-out from future EU plans. How does not being part of the planned - and publicly stated in unambiguous terms - future direction of the EU give us any kind of additional influence? We know they are not prepared to make any changes to accommodate the views and concerns of the British public, because they have not budged an inch in the recent fudged negotiations even though the consequences could be so dire for the EU if we leave. They simply have no thoughts of changing their direction or taking any account whatsoever of our views - as the second biggest contributor to the project.

'Better off'? By handing over responsibility for negotiating the UK's international trade deals to a shrinking, economically failing, EU that cannot conclude trade deals for all of its members with Canada because Romania is blocking it, and with the US because Greece is blocking it? A great trade organisation whose biggest customer in the world is a small island off the north-west coast of France? A bloc whose share of global GDP has shrunk from 30% to 17% in the last 25 years? Why on earth would we tie ourselves - our future prosperity and trade-based wealth - to such a failing organisation?

And finally, the line: 'in a reformed EU'. The EU has not been reformed in any way and to say so is an abject and deliberate lie being told every day by the Remain camp and by Dave and George in particular.

A lie. Not a slight exaggeration. A lie. Pure and simple. Which renders everything else they claim in their slogan, utterly redundant.

Would our economy suffer if we Leave? It's possible that it might in the short term, but we just don't know. No-one knows for sure. What we do know is that the business markets and currency exchanges would very quickly accept the decision to leave and get on with what they do against the new political backdrop that our leaving the EU would create.

But the point is that this is unknowable. The Remain side cannot know that Brexit wouldn't lead to a major influx of new investment and prosperity as businesses recognised the value of dealing with a sovereign UK with a new, bright, dynamic approach to trade and with the added attraction of being a sound financial economy with a dynamic workforce, a common business language, low levels of corruption and no restrictions on its access to the European marketplace - because the EU cannot afford to go through with its 'deserters will face consequences' bullshit. They cannot afford to mess about with their biggest customer - it's as simple as that.

So it's not about trade or economic consequences - because no-one knows for sure what these consequences will be. You cannot make a sound, solid argument if you don’t know what will happen - and taking the word of 'experts' who have been essentially bribed to say what they've been saying is just stupid.

And yet this is the basis of most of what the Remain camp has been saying. Although using the word 'saying' is perhaps too generous of me. It's the basis of their threats, of their scaremongering, of Dave bringing in foreign leaders to threaten and talk down this great country in order to scare people into voting to stay in this failing political project. That is beyond the pale in my book - and not based on any sound, credible facts.

I would strongly suggest that by releasing ourselves from having the EU conducting our global trade negotiations (how the hell did this great trading nation of ours ever come to this?), we will enter a period of considerably greater opportunity and prosperity as we trade on our own behalf with the world rather than the failing trade bloc that is the EU. With countries with whom we already have much better relationships than the EU - like India, China, the US, Canada, Australia, parts of Africa. A global marketplace rather than the limited and protectionist EU. A globally growing marketplace rather than the EU with its 500m people, 350m of whom don't have 2 Euros to rub together and whom we therefore, spend more money bailing out than trading with.

We bought £106.4 billion more goods from the EU than they bought from us in 2015. It doesn't take a genius to understand where that puts the negotiating powers when it comes to a future UK-EU trade deal. The EU will need a good - and quick - trade deal with the UK or it will slide further into recession very quickly.

And apart from the frankly silly argument about the voracity of the £350m/wk claim by the Leave side, what else is Dave saying about 'Leave lies'? He described the accession of Turkey to the EU as 'the biggest red herring of the campaign'. That makes it a mahoosive red herring if you consider all the other lies that have been peddled, so it's worth taking a closer look - because these people shout loudest and kick up the biggest fuss about the stuff that they're weakest on and about which, therefore, they need to create the biggest smoke-screen and confusion.

We are paying £2bn to the EU as part of its (the EU's) programme of trying to get more countries into the bloc - this money is mainly going to Turkey to help its accession. The British Consulate in Ankara has a dedicated team set up to work with Turkey on its accession. These are facts. Yet Dave says it'll never happen. Why would he say 'we've got a veto' but then refuse to say he'd use it, and at the same time be paying towards Turkey's accession? It makes no sense at all. It is a lie. Pure and simple but it is not a lie that's coming from the Leave camp.

The other 'great lie' he spouted last night on the BBCqt appearance was about an EU army. Yet the Five Presidents Report (FPR), which is the bible of the EU's plans for the future, talks about completing monetary and political union, the creation of a single united states of Europe, with its own currency, government, flag, anthem, borders. No such federal state exists in the world without its own army - and Juncker has said that the EU will need its own army in due course.

It's not a lie Dave, it is a reality - not necessarily something that will happen in the next couple of years, but it will happen and probably by 2025 as per the FPR - a time-table which will also, probably, see all EU members being required to adopt the Euro as their currency. So while we may have an opt-out on this for now, if we Remain inside the EU we will almost certainly have to ditch the pound and adopt the Euro at some time in the not very distant future. Our opt-outs in the past have been meaningless and the EU has been able to work its way around them on every occasion when it has suited them. And our Prime Ministers have simply rolled over.

And so to the bottom line: The Choice we face on Thursday has nothing to do with trade or economic prospects, because they are unknown and unknowable. It would be utterly stupid to base your decision on this area of speculation.

The choice is therefore a very simple one:

If you want to see Europe becoming a single, federal, United States of Europe - with central governance, currency etc - a single place which, if we Remain, will include the UK as a small regional member state with very little influence in the corridors of power (because even Dave doesn't agree with its future direction and will therefore be ignored), then you should vote to Remain. And that's cool if that is your belief, and good luck to you. But don't tell me you voted for any reason other than this, because, ultimately, you didn't. Or at least your vote wasn't about anything else in reality.

Alternatively if you want to live in a sovereign nation state called the UK, where your laws are made by people you elect and can dismiss; people who are relatively local, have heard of where you live and therefore understand your issues and work in your relatively local interests rather than having to factor-in the interests of people in far-flung parts of Europe, you should vote to Leave. 

If you want to live in a place which controls its own borders and can control levels of immigration (and reduce levels if that's what we democratically decide we want to do) so that we can plan the provision of infrastructure - health, education, housing, transport etc for the benefit of everyone who lives here (and pays for it) - then you should vote to Leave.

If you want to live in a country that has its own identity on the world stage - a global power, the world's 5th largest economy - a nation that has arguably had more beneficial influence on the world than any other in recent history - then you should vote to Leave.

Finally, if you reject the lies and scaremongering of people who are supposed to represent this great country; if you reject their talking down our capabilities, their sneering at the resilience, optimism, generosity and determination of the British people, you should vote to Leave.

It really is that simple, once one strips away all the deliberate confusion, lies and obfuscation that has been deployed by the Remain campaign because they have nothing positive to offer: No vision for the EU, no vision for the UK's future within the EU, except 'more of the same' - the same shit, the same decline, the same lurch from crisis to crisis - it all becomes blindingly obvious.

No wonder they want to confuse everyone.

It's time to wake up, see through the confusion, understand what the choice comes down to and, if you believe in this great country and its great people, it's time for you to Vote Leave.

Thanks for reading.