So how exactly does that Brexit of yours work then?
We can ask Leavers some questions that should lead them to wonder whether they still support their own arguments for Brexit. London4Europe Committee member Michael Romberg sets out a first list. Campaigners! Please contact us ([email protected]) with suggestions for other questions that have worked well on the street and we will issue an update.
Sovereignty
Name ten EU laws that we will repeal after Brexit. Rules: the laws must exist; they must be EU laws; there must be a consensus in favour of repeal; the repeal must bring enough benefit to make it worth leaving the EU to achieve. PS: not bendy bananas.
Name ten UK laws that we would like to pass but the EU has prevented us doing so. Equivalent rules.
What has EU membership stopped you personally or your organisation from doing?
How are EU laws made? Follow-up: what exactly is undemocratic about laws being made by a Parliament directly elected by proportional representation and by the Council of Ministers drawn from each EU government?
Do you have control over the UK? House of Lords? First past the post? The joint total share of the vote of the 2010 coalition parties exceeded 50%, though neither campaigned on the basis of joining a coalition. The last time before that a UK government had won more than half the popular vote was 1931. Most seats are safe. In 2017 only 70 seats changed hands, in 2010 111 seats. Almost a third of seats have not changed hands since 1945. In the UK, could you actually “throw the rascals out” if you are not a swing voter in a marginal seat?
Immigration
The 2010 and 2017 Conservative manifestos promised to return immigration numbers to the levels of the 1990s. Average net migration then was 60,000 a year. Immigration of non-EU citizens is wholly under UK control. Average net migration of non-EU citizens in the period 2010-2016 (for almost all of which Theresa May was Home Secretary) was 180,000. Why do you think immigration will fall after Brexit to meet the Conservatives’ target?
EU citizens are overwhelmingly white and Christian/ non-believers of Christian origin. Do you think that Brexit will reduce inflows of non-white and muslim people to the UK? how?
Immigrants assimilate – certainly their children do. Why do you think that EU citizens living here will not?
Remember “Auf Wiedersehen, Pet!”? Have you, your children, your friends ever thought about working in an EU country, living there, setting up a business there, studying there, trading with the EU, marrying an EU national? All that will be much harder outside the EU. Why throw those rights away?
Deregulation
David Davis has said there will not be a deregulatory race to the bottom as regards product or employment standards. Michael Gove has said he will not agree to reduce the UK’s animal welfare or food standards or environmental protection. Why do you think there will be a bonanza from reducing EU regulation?
Trade
Why does the UK have to leave the EU in order to be free to export to fast-growing markets like China, when EU member state Germany exports 4½ times as much to China as the UK does?
The UK makes its money from selling services. Free Trade Agreements do not do much for services. The Single Market has opened up EU services markets to intra-EU trade. How is the UK going to earn a living after Brexit?
The only economists who think that the UK will thrive after Brexit use a model that disregards distance, quality and non-tariff barriers and they call for unilateral free trade. When you shop, do you ignore distance, quality, hassle?
The Irish Border
There are worries that a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would make cross-border economic and social traffic much harder and risk the peace process. What is your solution?
Labour Leave
For many labour voters, the ideal society is to be found in Scandinavian welfare and cohesiveness, French healthcare, German technical skills training. What is it that Labour wishes to do that that cannot be done in the EU? (Labour Leave response to Open Britain here)
Did the 2016 vote settle it?
How can the 2016 vote have decided anything when we still do not have a Brexit plan?
Do you never review your decisions once you have more information and know what they actually entail?
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