English Youth Says BreXit Now!

LAST MONTH Liberal Future – the youth wing of the National Liberal Party (NLP) – launched its BreXit Now! campaign.

LF detailed its support for the NLPs stance on the EU – that it must be opposed on the grounds of self-determination and decentralism – and that liberal youth should campaign for a Leave vote in the EU referendum.

We also noted the popularity of the referendum:

‘As everyone knows, the referendum took place on Thursday 23 June 2016. It turned out to be one of the greatest acts of popular expression ever seen – with over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar having their say.

In the end, a majority of the electorate (nearly 17 ½ million people representing 51.89%) voted for Brexit – to leave the European Union.’

However, after the vote LF were left slightly puzzled at the lack of movement:

‘Liberal Future – along with many, many others – imagined that once the decision was made, the first real steps would be taken to get Britain out of the EU. However, to date, Westminster seems to be stalling. No-one seems to be interested in taking the first step. There doesn’t really seem to be any action. Why? We know that new Tory leader Theresa May campaigned to stay in the EU – does she know something we don’t?’

As we know David Davis has been appointed as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (the ‘Brexit Secretary’) and heads up the Department for Exiting the European Union.

LF is reasonably happy with the appointment of David Davis to this position. He’s a well-known Eurosceptic, supports civil liberties and can be described as a compassionate Conservative – he was born to a single mother and was initially brought up by his grandparents. He was later raised on a council estate in South London. From a Brexit point of view, he seems a reasonable choice. Hopefully, he’ll be true to his word – but one can never be too sure in politics. Who knows what pressure he’ll come under both from within and without the Tory party?

Despite the appointment of David Davis, the British electorate is still getting mixed messages from various establishment figures.

Theresa May famously said that ‘Brexit means Brexit.’ However even after meeting her cabinet at her official country residence of Chequers, Buckinghamshire (at the end of last month) and her appearance at the G20 summit in China (at the start of this month) nobody is really any the wiser. She hasn’t seized the initiative regarding Brexit and seems happy to simply ‘tread water’ for the moment.

Meanwhile the likes of Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith are calling for another Referendum. Various individuals and parties opposed to Brexit are also talking about posing legal challenges to the vote. Meanwhile many British youngsters who couldn’t be bothered to vote still claim that their future has been stolen!

At the end of the day, Liberal Future suspects that the large corporations and banks will call the shots.

With this in mind, it’s clear that we need to keep the pressure up on the politicians and not let them allow the Brexit vote to be quietly and conveniently put on the ‘long finger’ if not ‘forgotten’ altogether. Therefore, we’re calling for all those who support Brexit – no matter what your political position – to keep it at the top of the political agenda.

You can help do this by simply promote this article now and later on ‘liking and sharing’ it once it appears on the National Liberal Party’s Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/NationalLiberalParty/?fref=ts and National Liberals Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313/ Those who have Twitter should link to the article as well.

• THIS ARTICLE should be read in conjunction with http://nationalliberal.org/liberal-future-says-%e2%80%a6-brexit-now