The UK is suffering from EU referendum fever and being swamped by arguments for Remain (staying in the EU) or Brexit (getting out of the EU). This mess was originally started by the United Kingdom Independence Party, formed by disgruntled Conservatives who didn’t like Europe.
There’s so much hyperbole, propaganda, false ‘facts’ snatched out of the air and screaming insults being reported in the British media, and all to do with Conservative Party Ministers and MPs splitting in two between In and Out, and tearing each other apart over Europe, that no one really notices that:
The Labour Party is In for Britain
The Green Party is Greener In
The Liberal Democrats say Help keep Britain in Europe – donate today!
All the above statements come from the home pages of the websites of the three most obvious opposition parties in England, and all of which are running their own campaigns rather that team up with the government’s Remain campaign, known as Stronger In.
One hardly needs to ask about Scotland. The Scots, dominated by the Scottish National Party, are overwhelmingly in favour of staying within the EU, and have said more than once that if England votes for Brexit, Scotland will become independent of the UK in a very short time.
The Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru Party wants to stay in and reform the EU from the inside. In Northern Ireland, the Irish republican Sinn Fein Party is following Scotland’s position: they back Remain and if Britain votes for Brexit, they will actively campaign for reunification with Eire. The Ulster Unionists support the Remain side. The Social Democrat Labour Party is backing Remain.
But look! The anti-EU Tories and UKIP have some support – the last group in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, is recommending Brexit.
The majority of British political parties acknowledge that the EU is in need of serious reforms. But they want to stay in and reform it from the inside. In all likelihood they probably think the referendum is a gross waste of taxpayers’ time and money. It demonstrates that the issue really is a fight within the Conservative Party and its breakaway group UKIP.
But the media is so fixated on the fight between Remain and Brexit it ignores everything else. It ignores the fact that the other parties are staying away from the official Stronger In campaign. They know how toxic that would be. Labour lost most of its Scottish supporters because it campaigned alongside the Tories during the Scottish independence referendum.
Most people are doing their best to shut their ears to this nonsense. They don’t believe either half of the Conservative Party, but then they’ve stopped believing in David Cameron and his cronies over the last year.
It is irresponsible, to say the least, of our government to involve the whole nation in its internal squabbles in this way. It is encouraging racial prejudice, selfishness and very divisive attitudes among ordinary people. The one good result may be that, whatever the outcome of the Referendum, the Conservative Party is on the road to disintegration.
