PLEASE VOTE in the European Elections

Leave behind your stance on the European Union; shelve your opinion of the personalities involved; because this election is about Brexit. How we vote tomorrow is a signal to our government and the world - do we want in or out?

The strangest thing is that we already voted on this three years ago...

So actually tomorrow's vote is even more important than many people think. Dig below the smears and half-truths and we see that tomorrow is about democracy in Britain. Does our government implement the result of referendums or not?

33.6 million people, a huge 72.2% of the electorate voted in 2016. Between us we decided to Leave the EU. It was clear, legitimate and everyone accepted it. That's how democracy works.

Imagine if in 2014, the Scots voted to leave the UK. Three years later Westminster has not implemented independence and is actively thwarting it? There would be a righteous uproar! It would be braveheart all over again.

But then March came and went. The government broke it's promise to leave the EU. And then suddenly the Remain opinion leapt from the woodwork. Many who voted Remain changed their tune. No longer did they accept the result of the greatest democratic event in British history. This government, by breaking it's promise, has shown the entire country that it's ok to overturn a democratic result. That is pernicious, duplicitous and ultimately decadent. The values our ancestors fought for have become dust.

If we don't leave the EU in October you will know that your vote is as worthless as a vote in Turkey or China. I can't overstate this. Funding, milkshakes, posters, Farage and Cable - they're all irrelevant. The true question is this: Is our government democratic or is voting just a show to sell us the illusion of control? Voting for the Brexit Party is the best way to safeguard democracy in Britain.

It's that important. If we don't leave the EU this year that's the end of British democracy.

And since this is my last chance to influence anyone before tomorrow's vote I'd like to draw your attention to the rich irony in all of this: voting for MEP's is pointless. The European Parliament is the most magnificent, expensive and powerless legislature in Europe. So it is kinda funny that in this instance, voting to put our people in it has become a powerful symbol of democracy!

Let me prove it with the briefest research... The following quotation is from the European Parliament's own webpage entitled 'What are the European Parliament’s powers and legislative procedures?' 

'In areas such as taxation, competition law and Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Parliament is “consulted”. In those cases, Parliament may approve or reject a legislative proposal, or propose amendments to it, but the Council is not legally obliged to follow Parliament's opinion...'

'Although it is up to the Commission to propose new EU laws, Parliament can take the initiative by requesting the Commission to submit a legislative proposal... If the Commission refuses, it must explain why.' [lol]

So when it comes to the most important subjects the European Parliament is nothing more than a talking shop; neither can it force legislation on the agenda, and take it from me, they can't change existing legislation because that requires new legislation! Instead, the unelected bureaucrats in the European Commission, who like nothing better than suiting the needs of giant corporations, run the show.

It's no wonder that our average turnout for EU elections is 38%. We're instinctively wise to it. Everyone knows deep down that voting in EU elections is utterly inconsequential. I dearly hope this feeling doesn't infect our future general elections and referenda...

I could talk all day about the crazy iniquities baked into the EU, but let me finish with a big picture detailing what the EU has done for us:

When we joined the EEC [EU] in 1973, Britain had thriving industries: aerospace, cars, ships, steel, fish; you name it we had it. Our working class worked. But then the 70's became an economic catastrophe. In the 80's Thatcherite medicine was as bad as the disease. In the 90's London prospered. Tony Blair opened our borders to eastern Europe and gave away our sovereignty. In the noughties Gordon Brown gave all our money to the banks and more sovereignty to the EU. We are only just recovering and still our working class are bereft. There is no manufacturing in Britain because we are just a small region in the EU - Germany does all the making, London does financial services. The rest of us? The EU doesn't care.

In return for our cataclysmic industrial decline we get what? Passport free travel? What have we given up? Just about everything: control of our borders, control of our laws, control of our waters, incredible amounts of our money, and control of our economy. And if we're not careful and leave while we can, they'll have our democracy too. The soul of our nation is at stake - vote Brexit Party.

Rule Brittania 

What is Democracy and why is it Important?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog describing my journey from a Remain voter in 2016 to an avid Brexit supporter today. In that article I asserted that the credibility of democracy in the United Kingdom is now in question. That's because our politicians have miserably failed to take us out of the EU as promised. Following on from that I'd like to be reminded what democracy is, and why it's important. I won't be approaching this question academically, rather I will talk as plainly as I can and from the heart.

What is democracy?

Let's use a dictionary definition:

"government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."

Let's break that down into sections relevant to our context:

"Government by the people" = We, the people of Britain, govern ourselves - no one else.

"...supreme power is vested in the people..." = British voters are in charge here - no one else.

"[supreme power is] exercised by... their elected agents..." = Via elections, we choose agents who exercise our supreme power for us. These agents are our servants and our will is their command.

"[agents are elected] under a free electoral system." = British voters suffer no impediment or intimidation when we vote. We are not obliged to vote because we are free. If we vote, our choice is never wrong, it is right - and our birthright.

Is democracy important?

Democracy is our way of life. Whether you vote or not, whether you think politics has any influence on your everyday existence, the fact is you live in a country built, shaped and ruled by your fellow voters - past and present.

Why is there a police force that enforces the law? Because two-hundred years ago our elected representatives voted them into existence. Why is smoking banned in public places? Because thirteen years ago it was voted for by our agents in Parliament. Why is this nation leaving the European Union? Because three years ago we voted to leave...

You may feel distant from politicians and the political process; you might feel that nothing ever changes whatever you vote; but it is clear that the everyday bubble we inhabit at home and at work has been made by past political decisions. If you know this then you know that politics could change your bubble beyond all recognition.

Our ancestors spent mountains of treasure and shed rivers of blood so that we could live free in a glorious democracy. Your vote next Thursday in the European Union Elections is a precious privilege handed to us by their sacrifice.* We should also consider that their fight did not only guarantee our way of life, it also saved that of countless millions world-wide. I shudder to think what Europe would look like today if Britain and the Commonwealth had not stood alone in 1940...

To live in the UK is to be envied. Why do so many people from all over the world want to live here? We are compassionate, strong, safe and rich by comparison; but most of all, we are free. We keep it that way thanks to our functioning democracy. Billions of people in the rest of the world are not so lucky. Remember it well, because there may come a time when, like our heroic forbears, we are forced to fight for our way of life.

In conclusion, democracy gives every single Briton a stake in their destiny. Democracy is a fundamental aspect of our way of life. Democracy is a gift from our ancestors. Honour their memory – cherish, use and protect your vote.

Rule Britannia

*I fully appreciate the irony of promoting democracy with regards a European entity that isn't democratic. I will be talking about this in my next blog.