Letter: It’s The Brexiteers Who are the Traitors

Published on: 20 Nov, 2017
Updated on: 20 Nov, 2017

From George Potter

A period of silence from the Brexiteer traitors would be welcome.

During the EU referendum, we heard lots of lies from the Leave campaign.

There’d be £350 million a week extra for the NHS, remember that?

Getting a deal with the EU would be easy, remember that?

Talk of any problems with the Irish border was just scaremongering, remember that?

There’s no way we’d have to pay a penny to leave the EU, remember that?

Our trade with the EU wouldn’t be harmed, remember that?

Doctors and nurses from the EU working in the NHS would still feel welcome, remember that?

The rest of the world would be beating down our door to do trade deals with us after Brexit, remember that?

I remember those claims. And every single one of those claims has turned out to be a lie.

It turns out that we will be losing membership of the single market. It turns out there won’t be £350 million a week for the NHS. It turns out that the NHS is suffering from staff shortages as the supply of doctors and nurses from the EU dries up and as those who are here already decide to go home.

It turns out that we’ll be paying billions in an exit payment for leaving. It turns out that the question of the Northern Irish border is turning into an unsolvable quagmire. It turns out that the rest of the world isn’t all that eager to deal trade deals with us unless they’re laughably one-sided in their favour.

And it turns out that the pound, our money, is worth one fifth less than it was before the referendum.

But what do we hear from the Brexiteers now? They’ve stopped saying Brexit will be a boon for this country. Now they’re just saying all the pain is “a price worth paying”.

It’s funny that the ones who keep saying that are the same ones wealthy enough to avoid paying the price for Brexit.

They won’t be the ones struggling to afford to eat because inflation is outstripping wages. They won’t be the ones queuing up in A&E because of NHS staff shortages. They won’t be the ones whose employment rights are eroded when the government tries to make us “more competitive” after Brexit.

None of that matters you see, because at least they’ve got their wish to leave the EU no matter the price.

And what are the rest of us left with? An incompetent government of C-list politicians who don’t even know what they want from the Brexit negotiations yet.

But any attempt to point out that our government is steering a course for us to crash on the rocks of reality is met with the braying cries of “traitors!”, “mutineers!” and “stop undermining the negotiations!” from the Brexit fundamentalists.

Well as far as I’m concerned, the only traitors I can see are those who are using the slimmest of winning margins in a referendum to wreck this country’s future for a generation and to leave us poorer, isolated and irrelevant in the world.

Brexit is going to be a bad thing for our country. If that wasn’t guaranteed from the start it’s certainly guaranteed now thanks to the hash this government is making of it. And anyone who thinks that the solution to this is to silence all criticism of the numerous mistakes the government is making in the negotiations is foolish.

I love my country and I consider myself a patriot. And when a patriot can see their country is making a disastrous mistake then I think they have a duty to speak up and warn against it. Those who pretend otherwise are not patriots at all.

So let’s be honest, the Brexiteers are the only real traitors here no matter how much they wrap themselves in false patriotism and claim the contrary.

I for one think that after this mess they’ve gotten us all into with their lies, a period of silence from the Brexiteer traitors would be very welcome.

It would certainly be an improvement on their constant attacks on anyone who dares to question the emperor’s new clothes.

Responses to Letter: It’s The Brexiteers Who are the Traitors

Robert Good Reply

November 20, 2017 at 1:45 pm

Respect the Referendum result?

I am not a fan of the “we must respect the will of the people” line regarding Brexit – particularly when the “will of the people” was only 37% of the electorate. Although I recognise there are arguments both ways, and one of the principles of democracy is that one should respect the will of the people, there are other arguments. Thus, so far as I am aware, every democracy in the world seeking to amend their constitution requires a two-thirds majority, or even three-quarters, before it can come about.

For such a momentous change in our constitution (albeit unwritten) it is absurd that this could arise through the overblown rhetoric of the likes of Johnson, Farage, Gove and Rees-Mogg – not to mention newspapers such as The Sun, The Mail, The Express and the Telegraph, largely owned by millionaires and billionaires of dubious reputation.

To suggest we should “respect the result” surely predicates we ought to be able to respect the process. Nothing could be further from common sense than that we should respect the hyperbole and balderdash with which the debate was conducted.
Martin Rimmer Reply

November 20, 2017 at 3:41 pm

For me being able to ‘respect the will of the people’ is becoming increasingly less easy now that we know that many people in the UK, probably a decisive number, have been mislead and misinformed by concerted efforts by the Russians and their government, hell bent on destabilising the west.

This propaganda, unwittingly distributed by Twitter and Facebook, seems to have swayed very large numbers of people.

Surely information now coming to light about these Russian activities for both the Brexit vote and the election of Trump illegitimises both results.

Their denials of involvement, for me, only reinforces their guilt.
John Perkins Reply

November 20, 2017 at 3:59 pm

Those who favour leaving have been largely silent. On the contrary, it’s those who want to remain who every so often get together to restate their same arguments in the hope that they can persuade people to ignore the democratic vote and/or hold another referendum.

To address only one of the many inaccuracies in this letter: Mr. Potter states “It turns out there won’t be £350 million a week for the NHS”. Until the UK has stopped paying that money to the EU it’s not possible for it to be used for the NHS and it’s absurd to claim it was a lie.
- Dick Carpenter Reply
  
  November 20, 2017 at 5:15 pm
  
  Curious logic here from John Perkins. The £350M/week was for basics which the EU28 had agreed and from which member states collectively benefit. On our own, the UK will have to stump up the same amount for our own basics before we even start thinking about new hospitals.
  
  In fairness to Mr Perkins, his “wing and a prayer” hope that we might dig up some loose change out that £350m/week is the closest any Brexiteer gets to any sort of economic case these days.
- George Potter Reply
  
  November 20, 2017 at 6:43 pm
  
  Is Mr Perkins saying there will be an extra £350 million a week for the NHS once we’ve actually left the EU?
  
  If so, I’d love to know where his magic money tree is hidden given that our EU membership costs significantly less than £350 million a week.
- Tom Hunt Reply
  
  November 20, 2017 at 7:54 pm
  
  One can only assume that Mr. Perkins has been living on Mars for the last eighteen months. His understanding of the phrase “those who favour leaving have been largely silent” is clearly very different to most people’s understanding.
  
  On a serious point, in June last year, over 16 million people in Britain voted to remain. Millions more failed to back Brexit by not voting. They are entitled to express their views. That’s democracy.
  
  Mr. Perkin’s ridiculous points only serve to reinforce Mr. Potter’s argument.
Dale Miller Reply

November 20, 2017 at 4:00 pm

An excellent letter from George Potter and an equally excellent comment from Robert Good. Enough is enough. We need to pay our debts to the EU and start properly negotiating like grown-ups. The alternative is chaos. There is plenty of evidence of that chaos revving up to be unleashed after Christmas. Brexiteers need to face reality.
Lindsey Cook Reply

November 20, 2017 at 4:16 pm

Well said. I completely agree with you. And we are the Patriots. This country was so we’ll respected in Europe and abroad generally. Now we are considered crazy for wanting to leave the best deal we had, as a respected member of the EU. What a waste. Just throwing it away.
Stuart Barnes Reply

November 20, 2017 at 4:52 pm

Another utterly pathetic moan. A period of silence from the undemocratic remainers would be welcome. It looks as though their high command has reissued instructions to the troops to flood as many places as possible with their propaganda.

I suppose we will be hearing about World War 3 and plagues of locusts again soon? How about a joint statement from Cameron, Blair, Cable and Campbell? That should put the pesky ignorant people who don’t know what is good for them in their places. If that doesn’t work then let’s bring in the Russians.
D. Bisdee Reply

November 20, 2017 at 5:11 pm

Since the referendum, I haven’t heard or read one single rational argument as to why Brexit is better for our country. The deal we have now with the EU is the one we should be keeping. Thanks George Potter for an excellent letter.
Dick Carpenter Reply

November 20, 2017 at 5:43 pm

I would echo (nearly) everyone else’s views on George Potter’s excellent piece.

His views are probably more widely shared than he imagines. I’d say that if the government decided to give up and revoke Article 50, at least half the folks that voted “Leave” would breathe a sigh of profound relief. This whole business has become a lot messier, uncertain, and downright scary than most of them had imagined 18 months ago.
Susan Hibbert Reply

November 20, 2017 at 5:59 pm

George Potter is so right in his passionate denunciation of those who peddled lies during the run-up to the referendum and who seem even now to be blind to the realities of what they have done.
Fiona White Reply

November 20, 2017 at 8:14 pm

Today it was announced that the European Medicines Agency is to move from London to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority will go to Paris. This will not only mean the loss of about a thousand jobs in London but also the hotel bookings and other business which goes along with them.

In addition, there are a lot of smaller businesses that have located in London to be close to those two agencies. Many of them will move all or part of their operations to the new centres.

Again, these were losses which no-one talked about during the referendum campaign. I wonder how many more unintended consequences there will be?

Fiona White is the Lib Dem county councillor for Guildford West
Simon Bisson Reply

November 20, 2017 at 9:24 pm

I voted to leave. This letter is so full of nonsense it is hard to know where to start. I’ll just point out that since the referendum the number of EU doctors has increased by 5%. As for lies, well Project Fear turned out to be pretty accurate, I don’t think?

On a more serious note, I do wonder if The Guildford Dragon is really the forum for this kind of letter?
Peter Gatford Reply

November 20, 2017 at 10:05 pm

The same process for leaving the EU should be the same process that signed up for the Common Market in the first place – the result of a single UK-wide referendum.

We all select from our chosen media, arguments for our own particular preference of future. It does appear to be the most negative debate on our leaving, becomes more extreme by the day almost to the point of desperation.

For me, I would far sooner listen to those who argue support and confidence in our democratic process and its future, rather than those who suggest another far more slippery and potentially dangerous future. I think our country is better than that.
Graham Richings Reply

November 20, 2017 at 10:30 pm

Further to my previous comments, I would recommend that all of those who still want to Remain read the recently published book by the former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, entitled “Adults in the Room – My Battle with Europe’s Deep Establishment”.

They might well change their minds when they realise just what these people in the EU are like. It is highly unlikely that we could ever negotiate successfully with them. Reading this book will give you a very good insight as to how these people do business. We should walk away now.
John Armstrong Reply

November 21, 2017 at 12:41 am

I must say I’m getting somewhat cheesed off with the Remainers bleating like a load of malcontent’s and getting aggressive with it.

As for Brexiteers being traitors. I fail to see how anyone can be content to see the ECJ and all welcoming a £billions divorce bill and still think themselves British patriots. How could Remainers wish to see the EU wipe the floor with us? The first thing to go if we U-turn will be our rebate; but I suppose the Remainers would like that; even less money for the NHS.

The Russians swaying the result? That’s good one. What about Obama then? The President of the United States came to our country with the full acquiescence of our own prime minister and publicly threatened us.

I wonder if that was counted in the budget for the Remain campaign? Imagine that. Airforce One, fighter escort with air-to-air refuelling, ground staff and limo in separate aircraft, Obama’s fee for lying to the British electorate etc.

No Deal. No Strings. Farage for PM and Rees-Mogg for chancellor.