It is now official. The UK is leaving the EU on the basis of a corrupt campaign that was conducted illegally. Vote Leave has been fined a record amount by the Electoral Commission for breaches of electoral law during the EU referendum campaign. The Electoral Commission has taken the further step, reserved for the most serious breaches, of referring the matter to the police. The Commission found that Vote Leave had spent some £500,000 more on advertising than it was legally permitted to do so, money which it largely spent on targetted advertising on social media. Dodgy donations, dodgy democracy.
A 22 year old fashion student, Darren Grimes, who until now most of us had thought was that guy from the Walking Dead, received £675,000 as a prezzy from Vote Leave. Only he never actually received it, and Vote Leave just spent this money “on his behalf”. Vote Leave did so in order to circumvent the strict rules on election spending. Before he got the dosh that he didn’t really get from Vote Leave, Darren’s BeLeave campaign had managed to raise the amazing sum of £21.51 by its own efforts.
It’s worse than that however, as the Electoral Commission found that Vote Leave, the official taxpayer funded Leave campaign, broke electoral law on numerous occasions. And then it refused to cooperate with the Electoral Commission’s investigation. The Electoral Commission says that Vote Leave failed to respond to several contacts it made in order to arrange an interview with its campaign chief Matthew Elliot. When records were finally passed on to the Electoral Commission they were incomplete or incorrect. That’s the same Matthew Elliot who went on the BBC a few weeks ago to preempt the report and tell the world that the Electoral Commission was refusing his offers of meeting with them to clarify his position.
After being stitched up and used by Vote Leave as a political prostitute, Darren Grimes has now been fined £20,000. Vote Leave’s official David Halsall has been fined £61,000. Vote Leave illegally spent £675,000, and there is still no clarity about where the DUP’s mysterious £435,000 came from, money which it used to spend on a full page pro-Brexit advert in a newspaper which isn’t published in Northern Ireland. Yet the fines imposed by the Electoral Commission are less than 10% of the money that Vote Leave illegally spent, and mere pocket money for the dark money donors behind right wing and British nationalist political organisations in the UK. So that’s really going to teach them a lesson.
Meanwhile Ruth Davidson continues to be unavailable on the subject of the Scottish Conservatives’ dodgy donations. She is of course being doorstepped by the Scottish press exactly like Michelle Thomson was, hounded by the journalists encamped outside her home, waiting to pounce as soon as she pops out to get her Great British branded groceries from Tesco. British democracy is being bought and sold.
The Labour and Conservative parties which benefit from this appalling state of affairs are not calling for investigations and reform of the electoral laws. They’re not calling for stiffer penalties for breaking the electoral laws we do currently have in order to make the punishments meaningful. They’re saying nothing and hoping it will all go away while they continue to tell us that the result of a referendum which was won on the back of illegal campaigning must be respected. And the press are for the most part complicit with them.
You might think that after giving Vote Leave such a platform to attack the findings of the Electoral Commission before they were even published, that the BBC would be making the issue of donations and electoral spending its top story today. While British democracy is as healthy as a 30 stone 60 a day smoker with diabetes and raging alcoholism, what was the topic de jour on Radio Scotland? Yes. It was ageism. And they weren’t talking about the senile British state either. They were talking about how it’s terribly wrong to bear ill feelings towards all those old Tories who voted to keep Scotland a part of the UK, the same ones who voted for Brexit and to deport their care assistants to Romania.
Vote Leave wasn’t just any campaign. It was the official campaign and it was headed by senior members, or recently resigned senior members, of the current government. Michael Gove was intimately involved in the campaign. He met daily with its top officials to discuss its progress. What did Gove know? Either he knew that the campaign was engaged in illegal activities in which case he should resign, or he didn’t know that the campaign was engaged in illegal activities in which case he’s incompetent and should resign.
In either event, the UK is being taken out of the EU, into a hard Brexit or crashing out with no deal, causing massive disruption and the potential for thousands of job losses, all on the basis of an unfair and pauchled vote. Some like Liam Fox continue to argue that the outcome wouldn’t have been different so we need to press ahead. Well he would say that wouldn’t he.
That argument doesn’t wash in far more trivial matters. Lance Armstrong might very well have won all those Tour de France contests even without doping himself with enough drugs to enable a six stone weakling to win a sumo wrestling match, but that doesn’t mean he got to keep the crown. Students who cheat in exams might very well have passed anyway, but they don’t get to keep their pass marks. It’s only in British elections that there is no meaningful consequence for cheating. But hey, who need a functioning democracy when you can get a blue passport.
If there was any justice the Brexit vote would be declared null and void and the vote held again. There is no mandate for Brexit now. Theresa May’s pathetically weak government shows not the slightest indication that it’s going to do so, so the Scottish government must do it for her. If Theresa May won’t offer the people of the UK a new vote on this illegal and unfair Brexit, then the Scottish government must offer one to the people of Scotland. The question is no longer, should Scotland be a independent country, it’s should Scotland ensure that there are meaningful consequences for breaking electoral laws. Because only if there are meaningful consequences for breaking electoral laws can a country call itself a democracy.
WEE GINGER FUNDRAISER
It’s that time of year again. It’s been a year since I last did a fundraiser. This year is going to be a particularly expensive one for me personally. There’s a wedding to pay for, and I need to ensure that my earnings are sufficient to prove to the Home Office that I am able to import my American spouse into Scotland to live here permanently. As well as the need to demonstrate a minimum level of annual income, £18,600, there are also hefty legal and visa fees to pay.
I really don’t like doing fundraisers, and I really don’t like to blow my own trumpet, but I work my wee socks off for the independence movement. I publish this blog, and I do talks to local indy groups all over Scotland without asking for a fee. Don’t get me wrong, I greatly enjoy it. It’s a huge privilege to meet all the wonderful, talented, and committed people who make the Scottish independence movement something really special. However it takes up a lot of time and energy to keep blogging and doing public talks, time and energy that I could be using to generate an income to prove to the Home Office that I am able to support my American spouse.
The truth is that if every regular reader of this blog gave just one pound a year, I’d be pulling in well over £100,000 annually. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Publishing and selling books and maps helps, as does selling t-shirts, but it’s pretty hit and miss. I do get paid by The National for my twice weekly articles, but that doesn’t pay anything like as much as you might think it would. In order to be confident that I can meet the minimum income requirements demanded by the Home Office, cover the cost of a wedding on both sides of the Atlantic, and cover the fees required to pay the visas and associated legal costs, I need to do a fundraiser for £10,000.
Any help you can give would be immensely appreciated. Help me to keep campaiging, and help me to show that Scotland is a welcoming place for migrants – at least one special migrant in particular, the man I’m going to marry in October.
You can donate by clicking the following link and donating on my Gofundme page.
https://www.gofundme.com/wee-ginger-fundraiser
Alternatively you can donate by clicking on the Paypal “Donate” button on this page, or by logging in to www.paypal.com and making a payment to me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com If you would prefer to donate by some other method, cash, cheque, or bank transfer, please contact me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com for details.
Many thanks for all your support. You’ve no idea how much it means to me.
You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.
If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information. Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.
Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
Nailed it in one Paul.
But wait. It gets worse on the back of yesterday’s epic Commons and international omnishambles.
“EU and Japan sign historic free trade deal after rush to agree terms before Brexit”
Now what do you suppose this means for Japanese manufacturing in the UK and oh so much beyond that on a global stage? How many thousands of jobs/family pay packets paid by Nissan alone? Must be around 6 or 7K jobs with that single employer I’d guess.
Squeaky bum time for Ms May almost certainly, but for the families of those who work for international and more pointedly, continental employers? Yesterday’s Commons farce followed by today’s EC revelations and headlines, must leave an extremely bitter taste in the mouth. I have sympathy for those folks. Most had no idea what they were voting for, only what the headlines of an ever shouty press told them to vote for. That would be a press that was more than slightly ideologically, corporately and politically compromised. That press.
Now people ARE going to suffer and it’s not down to some eeeeeeevil Johnny Furriner who wished them harm because… reasons. No. No they voted for it themselves because they were misled by their own representatives and their own media. They chose to believe what they were told without question and those who did question were shouted down by a political class and media orthodoxy who had the access and soapbox to make it happen.
Sounds awfy familiar, doesn’t it?
We have an out from this epic collapse of UK politics in Scotland. The lifeboat just needs your go ahead to launch and there’s more than willing hands to bring as many on board as we can.
Worth a thought about now I’d say.
Spot on Sam. All Japanese businesses here will move asap.
Excellent Paul. All this makes me so angry and frustrated. Bastards!!
Will the Beeb report this correctly? Will the Beeb report that yesterday one of the white paper amendments ensures a NO deal with the EU is definite. They the BBC and all the other MSM are a disgrace to themselves and to us.
The media is why so few people know what is going on.
Our Brit Nat politicians are showing that they are worse than useless. No intelegence at all.
Please Nicola, get us out of here.
Rant over
Rant on, Andy. You are needed in these Dark Times.
As Sam points out above, the EU clearly doesn’t need ‘us’ (a barb often voiced by some gammon faced English zealot in a John Lewis checked shirt on Dumbledor’s QT) as much as we need ‘them’.
The EU 27 are just getting on with it.
What chance Fox getting a deal with Japan that is better? Absolutely hee haw.
Paul describes the coup d’état perfectly.
Those with vast wealth, and at the top of the Elite hierarchy, scoff at the notion that the UK is a democracy.
I checked out the Election Commission board members, Commissioners and CEO.
Apart from one or two ‘token plebs’, they are drawn from the very same Elite Bunch whom they are supposed to monitor.
Careerists who have ‘played the game’, made the right noises, reached the top, found themselves getting this or that juicy little sinecure, and would no more upset the Establishment applecart than Hitler’s Batsman requesting the day off to celebrate the Passover.
We have always known it, of course.
It’s the rich wot get the pleasure, it’s the poor wot gets the blame.
However in the modern world, it is a law of diminishing returns. They can’t hide from us these days.
They may own the Fourth Estate, and the broadcasters, but the internet cannot be tamed.
QED WGD, and Paul’s remarkable blog, personal appearances and journalism.
Out on my motorised shopping trolley collecting the week’s vitals, I listened briefly to John Beattie on Radio Jordanhill.
He was quizzing Peter Grant SNP and Ross Thomson Blue Tory Scotland Denier on yesterday’s Brexit drama Down There. No sign of a Red or Yellow Tory placemat; did they abstain?
Beattie seems to play on his affable big bloke, ex rugby international, I know nothing about politics and the like, persona.
He is just asking the ‘daft questions’. Aye, right.
He referred to Ruth Davidson, his ex BBC colleague, as Ross Thomson’s ‘boss’, and asked had he consulted her before siding with the insane Rees Mogg and the Hard Liners.
Thomson cackled with nervous laughter, like a 16 year old girl being asked if she had a serious boyfriend, before blurting out that May was the leader and he was a Brit, not a Scot, politician; so fuck you farmers in the North East who have crops rotting in the field. No Freedom of Movement, but freedom of labour, presumably from Uruguay, or Hong Kong, or the Philippines?
It is clear that Thomson has sold his constituents down the river. I’d expect him to get booted out the door, along with the rest of the Dirty Dozen at the next election, which may be sooner than he expects.
WE are in the darkest of times.
We must be strong, and grasp the thistle now.
The waiting is over.
Great article. Scotland has to get out of this farcical union with England now!
First class, Paul! “What does it matter if we cheated since we would have won anyway?” Hell’s Bells! How on earth did the once honourable professions of politics and journalism (present company excepted!) sink to their current depths? Time, and more than time, to be our own Nation again and to conduct both politics and journalism in a new and better way!
Sickening that despite the blatant misconduct by the Leave Brigade that a mere tap on the wrist is their punishment. Not only should there be a re run of the referendum the people involved should be jailed as they will only do this time and time again. When Indy Ref 2 comes we will have to put measures in place that this does not re-occur and Strict vigilance to ensure no vote rigging.
Corrupt does not even cover this Tory government!
‘British Democracy bought and sold’. Spot on. We really need to hammer away at this so that as many people as possible take note. We’re being taken for idiots by this Tory clique who are only out for their own advantage.
An update on the EU Japan trade deal.
HERE
“Once ratified by parliaments on both sides, the EU-Japan trade deal will eliminate about 99% of tariffs on Japanese goods, including on cars, from the eighth year after the deal is implemented, with tariffs scrapped on car parts immediately.”
Dawn should break through the clouds (for some) on the significance for UK and Brexit any second….
Another great article Paul.
I watched this subject being covered on Daily Politics today by Jo Coburn, a guy from the Times, an obnoxious female Tory MP, some Labour supporting woman and the whistleblower. Apologies for not picking up on the names.
The Tory MP basically said the Electoral Commission was “biased” and had been picking on Vote Leave … and lots more of course. The whistleblower said that’s your opinion but it’s not fact and the evidence is there. It all got quite heated and then Jo Coburn picked up her phone and said “Matthew Elliot did offer to meet up with the EC.” Looked like some kind of tweet or a direct communication to the BBC, which wouldn’t surprise me. Tory woman said, “see he did offer.” The whistleblower said “he’s a liar. It’s in black and white in the official report.” Tory woman said I know him and he doesn’t lie.”
Lol, lol, lol. A bunch of liars in it together. Better Together right enough.
If it wasn’t for the fact that we’ll get our Independence out of this, I’d be shouting my mouth off about calling for a rerun. As it is they’ll never change so let them stew in their own juice.
I also wonder how much of the Tory dark money was used to oust Alex Salmond, Angus Robertson et al? Maybe the EC should be looking into that.
And they talk of bais but what about how the electoral commission blatantly refused to investigate Scotland in union after evidence of wrong doing was presented to the electoral commission see that never gets brought up.
Spot on, Petra. In Argyll we (myself and wife) got 13 LIbDem Leaflets posted to us during that “snap” election. With four to named person and the other nine unnamed on the Royal Mail’s “Door to Door ” budget service at a conservative estimate over £3 was spent on postage to my house alone and this happened to many thousands of homes across Argyll and Bute. The LibDems do not have two pennies to rub together so some other fund paid for this. Most of the glossy leaflets did not mention the candidate’s name but screamed on about “no second referendum” so would not be included in election expenses returns. I believe that seats across the North East and other places had some homes getting up to 15 leaflets, mostly Tory similarly avoiding expenses returns. A huge seven figure cash assault on Scottish democracy took place at that (not) “snap” election.
Quite simply, Vote Leave bought the referendum. The paltry fine is just another expense to them; they got the result they paid for and that’s all that matters. Every measure of justice says that this should declare the result null and void.
Well said! Bought and sold for Tory gold!
[…] Wee Ginger Dug Meaningful consequences It is now official. The UK is leaving the EU on the basis of a corrupt campaign that […]
The European Union should be looking into the status of the UK. United Kingdom as the name implies.
Two equally sovereign states, one does not have power over the other.
Britain is not a state or a country, the United Kingdom is not a country or a state, the clue is in the name.
We joined the EU as two equal kingdoms, the Kingdom of England voted to leave the Kingdom of Scotland voted to remain.
When will the EU stand up and protect its citizens her in Scotland.
The press will not pursue this very far, they’ll simply go throught the motions. Why? Where would much of that illegal spending have gone? Right! Into newspaper and other media pockets for advertising/propoganda/lies. Don’t expect any damning revelations from them then. I’m alright, Jack.
“propaganda”. I hate it when that happens, makes me feel like a failure. 🙂
I’m, Jack, and I’m not all right.
I have wondered out loud and in print before how the Herald, Scotsman P&J and the like survive while sales and advertising revenue plummet.
Now we know.
Dark money from the wealthy elite.
BBC Scotland of course subsidises the wages of the Dead Tree Scrollers; how much to we cough up as appearance money for members of the Fourth Estate Fifth Column sitting down with Brewer Taylor and McKay to chant SNP BAD on camera every bloody week?
Radio Shortbread is the same. Tom Harris, Margaret Curran, David Torrance before he went underground; they are never off the wireless. Experts in nothing but they have an pointless opinion on everything from the latest movies to anorexia.
AND WE PAY FOR IT ALL.
How many millions are siphoned off from our licence money each year to prop up this little clique?
We are on the brink of Open Rebellion now.
I refuse to give up my European Citizenship and Freedoms because an English? Anglo Scot Elite have the money and all the power.
Fuck them all.
It’s high time that our journos and broadcasters grew a pair.
Or are they all mealy mouthed collaborators?
Surely to God there are some men and women of principle left in the communications industry.
That startlingly may just be the case.
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The journalistsecond are just anti Scottish britnats who silence any positive story here so we don’t go hang we not as crap as we think we are we can be better hence why they’ve been reportingredients negative Scotland news way before we Scots decided to give the SNP a change at government.
Blasted auto speller wish this site had an edit button like the national does.
Stupid auto speller wish this site had an edit button like the national does.
Reblogged this on mikeinkwazi.
The last, but one, domino.
HERE
and HERE
Sam, I just looked at those Twitter feeds….and thought of this.
I hope this comes up….says it all…
Blast from the past, but it definitely hit the right tone. 🙂
Yep, those votes do mean a hard Brexit is all but inevitable and that parliament voted not to have any say on scrutiny of trade agreements going forward. Never thought I’d see the day, but then these are very unusual days.
Mind though Molly, it was their choice and their actions. No one forced either upon them.
Whilst on the subject of media, I’m sure many here will be only too aware of the latest contributor to the media scene. Yes, Boris, barely a week after resigning as Foreign Secretary, is now returning to the Daily Telegraph as a contributing journalist.
Leave aside the thousands he will earn on top of his MP’s salary (and no doubt from his various investments and forthcoming after-dinner speeches), sickening all that is. The facts are that he will be able to deliver his tripe to a wider readership than those of us political anoraks who follow Westminster’s antics and that what he has done is conceivably both dishonest and illegal.
Ex-ministers must refer new employment to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments before accepting it. Under existing guidelines, ex-cabinet ministers normally have to wait three months from their last day in office before taking up any outside employment.
Ex-ministers are expected to observe a two-year ban on lobbying government on behalf of any new employer or clients.
Johnson has not been in touch – as you’d expect. He just sallies forth to his new employment. As can be seen, the Committee itself has no teeth – it is merely ‘Advisory’ and can not bring any sanctions to bear against offenders against its ‘advice’:
“Ministers are written to when they leave office to remind them of their responsibility to make an application to us,” it said.
Ha bloody ha. Not for the first time a senior Tory politician pursues his own agenda and will not be punished for it. Ha bloody ha. Not for the first time, Johnson raises two fingers to proper procedure.
Please, Scotland. When you do launch your lifeboat, please reserve a wee place for this Welshy. I don’t take up much room – promise. I’ll even work my passage. Anything to be shot of these liars, dissemblers, charlatans and chancers – for good. Thank you in advance.
Come and live here now. You are welcome. Your vote would be much appreciated and your contribution to our society and economy.
With the demise of the great white hope of “a customs union,” as opposed to “the Customs Union,” in last night’s vote, Labour are now bereft of their sop to Leave voters.
It is some kind of tragic, poetic justice, that it was Labour’s own brexiters wot dun it. These clowns could have, they really could have, brought down the government and possibly put Corbyn in No.10. Instead, they chose to stand with Rees Mogg, et.al. Utterly baffling performance.
The demise of the left, in England, is now the greatest tragedy of our times. In Scotland, the masterminds in Labour openly rallied to the Tories in last year’s GE, securing a whole host of spivs for last nights vote. This choice has a real bullet to the head kind of flavor to it today, in hindsight.
Today’s Labour are hopeless at politics. There is no saving them. To keep the faith with them is to drown with them. Well not them exactly. They’ll still be collecting ermine for their efforts while you will be on the receiving end of a police baton.
The nutcase spivs of ERG, now have their tax haven. They will use it to stir the shit and sell arms to a planet in crisis. No customs union means a free for all on tariffs. Donald and Boris will be so happy.
Scotland’s tragedy is that a quarter of our own citizens share this “vision,” and a quarter more are too afraid to recognize the facts.
We will never convince our own spivs. It is pointless to even try. Their interest lies in their existing supply chains. They are terrified of change. Which is ironic given they voted for Brexit. That’s why there is no plan. Being in a terrified state is never a good time to be planning anything – as they have proven time and again, for the past two long years.
As for our fearful friends, relatives and neighbors, Scotland’s future is now in their hands.
I suggest our best strategy is to lend these folks our confidence, and share a laugh at the absolute shit show that now passes for government in these lands.
Oh, and have them cancel their BBC license fee. It is now a hostage to the state of Rees Mogg and Nigel Farage – they’re never off of it. In other word, ignore the trolls. They’ll only give you ulcers. Actually, come to think of it, I believe that’s their purpose 🙂
Just to be clear on what happened last night? Ms May’s government won that vote 307 – 301 pretty much ensuring a hard Brexit. We’ve gone over what that means several times already folks, so you know that’s a VERY bad thing.
Had she lost that vote the most likely upshot would have been a vote of no confidence followed by a snap GE. Losing that vote potentially would have brought down the most inept, reactionary, right wing, xenophobic, self centred and abusive government in post war history. Two points to consider.
1. The four Labour voters which swung the vote? Well done you.
2. The British nationalist parties of Scotland who joined together to foist those 13 tories on Scotland’s population? A population that voted resoundingly to remain members of the EU? Last night was your crowning achievement. Also, a big well done you. (VERY slow hand clap)
Your tribalism. Your petty grudges. Your blinkered ideologies, self entitlement and naked envy have guaranteed misery for a population. You do not deserve our trust. You don’t deserve our respect. You don’t even merit our attention from now on and that is sad beyond words.
Wow! Well said, Sam. “Your tribalism. Your petty grudges. Your blinkered ideologies, self entitlement and naked envy have guaranteed misery for a population. You do not deserve our trust. You don’t deserve our respect. You don’t even merit our attention from now on and that is sad beyond words.” Brilliant! This is why you are a writer and I am not … thank you so much for putting my feelings into such succinct words.
Yesterday was the culmination of decades of near epic fuckwittery Wendy. A parliament, a system and a practice of politics that’s literally placed every member of its population in harms way. Mainly through shear self seeking greed or ideological idiocy.
People rarely (if ever) came before party.
The only thing they do deserve, is contempt.
Hear! Hear!
Just in Wendy. A case of who knew?
https://archive.fo/kZZDZ
Oi-vay! Time for action, methinks … it’s going to get pretty bumpy!
Problem is that there’s a mandate for “Brexit” of some variety gained at the last General election. Cynics might say that’s because they knew the referendum result was on shaky ground. Also either Cameron was being devious or cautious in not making the referendum trigger A50.
That said the GE also prevented a whole list of bye elections. The Government at the time of the vote not being properly elected according to the constitution of the UK might be accepted as a valid reason for voiding A50 entirely if the EU are being generous. Especially if it’s seen as an attack on an NATO member by a foreign power and any fellow NATO members who are also EU members see our remaining in the EU as a security issue.
From Robert Peston this afternoon.
theresa_may says 70 “technical notices” for businesses and households will be published in Aug and Sept setting out how we can all prepare for a no-deal Brexit
Beat me to it Andy and yes it does mean what you think it means.
Also this:
https://archive.fo/jN9JX
People cannot say they weren’t warned. They simply chose not to believe.
They are openly talking about generators on barges in the North Channel to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland in the event of No Deal and Ireland no longer supplying electricity to the North per the GFA.
They are considering military generators now in Afghanistan.
You couldn’t make it up.
It is going to turn nasty, very abruptly.
Toilet rolls, flour, powdered milk, tea bags and a water barrel in the back garden.
Lots of tinned fruit veg meat and seed potatoes.
And Guinness and low fat ambrosia cream rice.
It is that stark.
This is a hard Brexit or a crash out:
It is now known that Brexit will produce a minimum economic effect
equivalent to that of the 2008 financial crisis.
A no deal Brexit, in which the UK would leave the European Union without any agreements would
produce an impact at least four times as large as this, affecting some
individual regions by as much as twice the national figure. But this is only
in terms of GDP, measured by the governments own assessments.
Practical, or day-to-day impacts include:
• No access to nuclear fuel for power stations or medicine
• Severe impact of medical supplies
• Five day delays to food imports, causing food to rot in trucks on
the continent and generating panic buying and shortages nationally,
leading to rationing
• Vehicle fuel shortages
• Gas and oil shortages
• Failure of GPS and defence systems
• Blockages to all imports and exports
• Hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic
• Loss of millions of jobs
• Loss of service sector tax revenues
• Flights may be grounded
Estimates indicate the UK would survive no longer than five days on
internal resources in a no deal situation.
The reality of Brexit, whatever your political view, is that it has already cost
jobs which has started to impact upon local economies up and down the
country and will see a minimum degradation comparable to that of 2008.
The government is offering no preparedness advice to any residents of the
UK and still does not have defined positions on how key issues such as
trade and essential immigration will function after March 2019.
The general public within the UK is completely unprepared for Brexit.
Last night I posted similar sentiments about this on Twitter, comparing the broken promises of the EU Ref to those of the IndyRef. Even used the same Lance Armstrong comparison.
Sadly my tweet was retweeted by a bot, and I’ve had 24 hours of abuse from a large number of diehard unionists, falling over themselves to say it was the SNP who told all the lies, that I am a hopeless fantasist, and to retweet each other. In the end I had to delete the tweet, because frankly life is too short.
There really are a lot of people out there who think that independence is a worse option than literally anything else imaginable, including the worst kind of hard Brexit. I can’t understand that mentality, but clearly there are plenty of folk willing to die on that hill.