GraveTalk 10: The EU and What It Does For The UK

Right. The EU – Good or Bad? Let’s see!

[Firstly, (I need to get this off my chest) why are people still saying “The people voted leave”. The people didn’t voted leave, The people told the government how they feel about the EU in a National questionnaire. Please stop thinking  a referendum means something – it doesn’t. A referendum result doesn’t mean a thing. A government can choose to accept or ignore the outcome. It is a glorified public opinion poll.

Now the government chose to listen to the people (For a change) and look at what’s happened.  (I think the government doesn’t want to leave and this brexit deal crap is just a way for them to say “Well we tried, but we’re now staying in the EU”.  (Which is the right idea) Just think about – Theresa May wanted to stay in the EU (at the the time of the referendum) and has seen her exit deal rejected on numerous occasions – Was this deliberate? Conspiracy theorists decide!]

Now onto the EU and what will happen IF the UK leaves the EU. The answer is nothing. All this fear-mongering is over nothing. There won’t be a lack of medicine/drug supplies, no food shortages or a backlog of lorries (Yes the traffic may be a little bit more heavier due to the extra checks, passport control, etc… The way we live won’t be affected that much. However, what will be affected is consumer rights, employee rights, needing visas to get into the EU, EU funding (The UK WILL NOT/CANNOT match the funding we receive from the EU) and, for all you young ones, charges to use your phone abroad [Okay phone charges were only dropped a few years ago, but costs will increase as the EU countries will cost the same as the current non-EU countries; e.g. Australia, US, Egypt, Turkey].

As for the backstop [Ireland]. This is just a cheeky way of the UK to “Stay in the EU” without actually being a member, which is wrong and agree with the EU in not renegotiating it. The UK cannot have it both ways – you’re either In or Out, not choose only the benefits. Non-EU countries importing/exporting goods into EU countries are subject to customs checks – why should it be any different just because the UK has a “unique” situation, where part of the country is bordered with an EU nation (Even though mainland Europe manages to cope with similar situations with non-EU countries bordering EU nations).

The Irish problem is more about cost than inspecting goods. You have to factor in the cost to build a customs checkpoint along the Irish border (Obviously this should be paid for by both the EU and UK). It would be an inconvenience (once again) separating a whole island – as with freedom of movement has effectively made Ireland “One Country” again.

There are alternatives to this. Give Northern Ireland back to the Republic of Ireland, the UK to join the EEA, EFTA and Schengen Agreement. The EFTA would be the best solution for people wanting to leave – free trade without being part of the EU. Look at Switzerland – the UK should stride for a Switzerland deal.

Now think of the cost of leaving. Now Farage says the money saved from EU membership will be put back into the country and the NHS it won’t (He hasn’t a say in UK politics). The UK gives the EU a membership fee, but guess what, (And this is something Farage just seems to forget) the UK gets back just as much in terms of grants and other funding – funding that goes towards farming, property developments, start-up’s, etc… Without the EU, the UK will lose out on a lot of money. Example Liverpool Capital of Culture. Liverpool received a lot of European money for being the 2008 capital of Culture and the city has been transformed because of the help from the EU. Now look at Hull, who won the first UK Culture City award (created on the success of Liverpool). How much money did Hull receive (£20 million?)? And how much of that came from EU grants (funding)? The UK would not/can not compete with the EU on this front.

Shop prices will go up, but that’s what would always happen. The main issue is workers and consumer rights. Do you really believe the UK government when they say maintain employment rights – because I don’t. Just like Boris Johnson saying they’ll invest in HS2 then weeks later says we need to look at it because it may not be worthwhile! People please wake up. Do not buy into the Conservatives manifesto, it’s just a load of bollocks. The same with Nigel Farage. The one’s I would trust and vote for would be the Liberal democrats. They haven’t been elected in a long time (2010 was a coalition, just to give the Conservatives a majority, they had not much of a say.

Workers rights will degrade to benefit the employer. Reduced paid-holidays, reduced sick pay and longer hours. Consumer rights will diminish as well. At the moment buyers are protected with certain rights to help them “get what they paid for”.

Health and safety is set by the UK Government, so this pain in the arse will continue – Look at Germany (and the rest of Europe) – they get on with things. UK Health and Safety sometimes gets taken advantage of, with workers using it as excuse not to work or an insurance scam.

Lawmaking – take a look across the EU. Each country has different laws on a subject. The EU doesn’t single out the UK telling us what to do. The UK is responsible for it’s own laws, which will explain why the country is in such a state. EU laws are more for people’s rights and protection. The UK controls the UK, but maybe we’d be in a better place if we were governed by Brussels!

Now the borders. Oh this will be fun. This was Nigel Farage’s pride and joy. The UK controls it’s borders (It’s called France). Well, we have this thing called Border Force, but they’re just a bunch of useless twats. France stop immigrants from coming into the UK a lot better than the UK does. Yes you do get some that sneak in, but without France we would get a hell of a lot more. Our Border Force are supposed to turn non-EU nationals away (If they are legally not entitled to enter the country), but if they don’t and blame the EU because of it, then what’s the excuse going to be without the EU? As an EU citizen you have the right to live and work in any EU nation. And now we need to get a visa to go to Germany (again) – Not the end of the world, I know, but still it’s nice to know we don’t need to apply like other countries – maybe there’ll be working holiday visas like Canada and Australia?

Now the EU does have it’s bad points, but the fact is the UK is by far better off remaining in the EU than leaving it. People voted because of all the propaganda used by Nigel Farage and UKIP. Now the country needs to act now because this is getting ridiculous. Stop playing around with such a serious issue. Either leave or stay. I couldn’t give a shit over the “Well the people voted leave and they’re not honouring that vote” bullshit. Like I said before the referendum doesn’t mean anything. What I do care about is the government clearly not wanting to leave, but just prolonging the process until everyone gets fed up and says “let’s just stay then”. If you want to stay just bloody revoke the revoke of Article 50!

Want to make up your own mind over the EU, click the link below. This will tell you all you need to know. Don’t have your head turned by the lies that come out of Nigel Farage’s mouth – nothing he says is true! (Not even his non-political career).

https://europa.eu/european-union

 

That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed the article, hopefully it wasn’t too much waffling on. I will be back with the next GraveTalk’s:

GraveTalk: Music and how it can help

GraveTalk: List of Greatest Driving Songs

GraveTalk: Untitled


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