Attending an event last night in Prague and meeting several other Brits that live here, it was clear that there is only one thing on our minds at the moment, and that is the result of the vote on the 23rd June. So far, and including yesterday, I have not met one Brit that is not outraged that the vote is even happening, let alone that the impossibility might happen and the voters will decide that Britain should leave the EU.
Living in a country that only relatively recently joined the EU allows us to see just how many positives membership of the EU brings rather than the stated negatives of the Brexit supporters: the EU rules that some Brits seem to be complaining about have made the Czech Republic a much better, safer and marginally less corrupt place to live in than it was before joining, the immigration policy is just as tough now as it was before (i.e. when it comes to those from countries that the CR doesn’t like), and the GDP of the country has increased by God knows what percentage despite the economic crisis of the last few years.
Of course, the Brexit voters would say that the situation in the UK is completely different to the situation in the Czech Republic, but is it? I wonder how many EU rules the man in the UK street can actually point to as causing him or her a problem. And will not being a part of the EU actually make any difference to the immigration problem? Can anyone explain why that would be? I think not.
As a PR expert, I am pretty damn good at spinning a story to be negative or positive, depending on what is required. Some of the spin that the Bremain people are coming up with though is staggering and if someone in my office suggested using some of their ridiculous plays on words for a client’s project I would tell them to go back to the drawing board. But somehow it seems that many people in the UK are being taken in by it.
Having lived abroad for more than fifteen years, I am not able to vote; that in itself seems completely ridiculous, since I am still British; I pay into a pension plan there, some of my family live there, and I had originally thought that one day we will return to spend our retirement there. So if you are reading this in the UK, and are not planning to vote, please have one (remain!) for me! Britain needs you!!
I, too, am disenfranchised by fifteen years’ absence. As you write, it is WRONG, but I believe an attempt to overthrow this rule failed at the Supreme Court. I completely agree that the EU’s rules and principles have been, on the whole, beneficial. Leavers are Chamberlain to the Remainers Churchill. As a nation we must be engaged not isolationist.