What looks to be a great victory in the UK, despite what all the pundits and pollsters said, has ramifications for other places around the globe. I am thinking here especially of the forthcoming Australian and American elections. But first, a few words about this historic vote in the UK.
Almost no one thought there would be such a big win for the Brexit camp. It looks like the referendum to leave the EU will end up with a solid 52 per cent vote, and with a margin of as many as a million-plus votes. Wales and much of the UK went for the leave camp, while Scotland, Northern Ireland and London were among the main strongholds for the stay camp.
Of course even a number of Labor MPs and Labor electorates went for this decision to exit the EU, so it certainly was not just a conservative campaign. Indeed, the Tory leader and Prime Minister David Cameron was a keen supporter of remaining in the EU.
So we have here a real case of Independence Day in the UK. One leader who has been fighting this for decades now is Nigel Farage of UKIP. He said just recently, “Dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom. This will be a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people.” He said this:
“We have fought against the multinationals, against the big merchant banks, against big politics, against lies, corruption and deceit and today honesty and decency and belief in a nation I think now is going to win. We will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet having been fired.”
He continued, “We have done it. For the whole of Europe. I hope this victory brings down this failed project and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nations, trading together, being friends together, co-operating together. And let’s get rid of the flag, the [EU] anthem, Brussels and all that has gone wrong.”
Gisela Stuart, a leave campaigner and Labour MP, said this in Manchester: “We have just taken control. 33 million people went to the ballot box and made a democratic decision. They reflected on our 40 year history and by a majority they have decided to leave. I think that is democracy at work.”
A big question now is the political future of Cameron, and Jeremy Corbyn of Labour. Some are calling for them to stand down immediately. Time will tell. In the meantime the transition – which may take several years – can now begin as the UK extracts itself from the clutches of the EU.
It certainly cannot take place overnight, given that the UK first joined the EEC back in 1973 and has many entanglements to sort through. And other repercussions are now in play, with volatile stock markets, and Scotland talking about another independence referendum. Northern Ireland too may head down that path.
So how all the dust settles here will take quite some time to fully discover. But in my view this was a big win – a win for the right to self-control and national sovereignty and real independence from foreign bureaucrats. I celebrate this win in part, as I say, because two other important votes are coming up soon.
July 2 in Australia and November 8 in the US are big days indeed. All I want to say is there is hope that some good outcomes might arise there. Just as few predicted a Brexit win, and a win for the ordinary people, perhaps we can hope for the same in these nations as well.
Maybe we will see some people power here and in America. Hopefully some of the smaller pro-family and pro-faith parties in Australia will do well, and send a strong rebuke to Turnbull and Shorten. All over much of the West people are getting fed up with business as usual, and unresponsive political parties.
So maybe now is the day of the rise of the smaller parties – we will soon see. As for America, I keep praying for the miraculous. I would love to see both Clinton and Trump implode or explode, and leave a genuine leader and conservative like Cruz making it through.
And plenty can happen not just before the actual vote later this year, but even before the July conventions. Nothing is set in stone here, and things may well change. So if we keep working hard and praying hard, who knows? All I can do is take heart from what just happened in the UK.
All I know is there are a lot of angry folks out there right now in the UK, especially amongst the left. Labour bigwigs, Greens politicians, and establishment Tories are all spitting chips right now. Good. Victory to the people. Victory to the decentralisation of power.
Maybe it will start a tidal wave right around the rest of the West. I sure hope so. Well done the UK. You give us all hope. Real change is possible. Getting big wins against the establishment machine can still occur. Given power back to the people is now back on the cards.
Good job Brexit.
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