Why we’ll be marching for a peoples’ vote

Our departure from the EU looms. This is likely to hit Et Games’ hard: the pound will continue to lose value. Exporting to Europe will become more difficult. Our economy is likely to suffer, and demand for elasticated table games may not be top priority for stretched consumers.

But the issues at stake go much deeper. Some people in the UK have felt threatened by the ability of other Europeans to come and work here. I rather feel reassured by our reciprocal right to go and live and work in Europe. The EU, for all its faults, provides freedoms and security that I shall miss: worker protections, environmental standards, a beautiful absence of cross-border red-tape, and the ability to live and work anywhere in Europe.

I sympathise greatly with some of the reasons people give for voting leave: since the financial crash economic growth has nearly all gone to those at the top of tree, whilst poorer people have been hit most by austerity. It’s not just left-wing activists who point that out – Andy Haldane, chief economist at the bank of England, has said as much in a speech entitled “Whose recovery?”. We need a shared prosperity, not a rigged game where the same winners keep taking all; otherwise trust and democracy will fall apart.

But the EU is the wrong target for anger at the unfairness of the status quo. Our exit is not bringing the promised easy dividends. Brexiteers can’t even agree on what sort of exit they want. It’s time for a rethink.

The march for a peoples vote will be on 20th October:

https://www.peoples-vote.uk/