Brexit wow

[tiggymalvern]

Britain did it. We actually did it. I was so sure it would be like Scotland - it would be close, but in the end fear of change would win. Apparently we weren't scared.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

So, what does this mean? How does it affect people, or how is it meant to affect them?

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Most importantly (to me, at least), it means that the British government will again be able to write all their own laws, instead of writing some of their own laws and having the European parliament tell them what the rest of their laws will say.

Effectively, the European parliament was acting like the US Federal government, and reducing its member countries to the level of states. Except nobody in Britain, or most of the other countries in Europe, were ever asked if they wanted such an arrangement - it was decided by politicians a little over twenty years ago, and apparently when you DO eventually ask the people if they want such an arrangement, they say no.

[teaforme.livejournal.com]

Wow indeed. I wonder if the EU will be a flash in the pan after all?

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Having seen that it can be done, I strongly suspect there will be factions in other EU countries wanting to have their own referenda too. Greece's last elections resulted in a winning party whose main manifesto was to tell the EU to screw their bailout terms and start again. Once they were elected, the party found their promises impossible to keep, and they caved to the EU. The party will no doubt pay for that at the next election, but the Greeks have clearly expressed a view.

The recent Austrian presidential election resulted in the elimination of every representative of the mainstream moderate parties in the early rounds. The final vote was between the far left Greens and the far right fascists (the Greens won by 50.5 to 49.5%). It's difficult to see that election as anything but a protest vote against politics as usual.

But it took well over a decade in Britain before demands for a referendum became a reality, and with the results showing that the people might vote to leave, other countries will find their politicians are even less willing to agree to put it to the public vote. We will see.

[alcina2.livejournal.com]

I keep having to go back to my computer to check I hadn't imagined it.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Watching the results come in through the evening was awesome!