Whilst I voted to Remain in the EU, I woke today to hear the news about the British people’s decision to leave to European Union and was immediately filled with excitement and pride.
In reality, no one can predict the likely outcome of the two-year process that we will now enter into to leave the European Union.
My arguments to remain were economic, but my heart told me that we should be leaving.
Having exercised my democratic rights, and having seen my fellow Brits exercise theirs, today there is a sense of relief that an argument that has rumbled on for several years has now been settled.
I am not a European and have never felt like one, but I am proudly English and British and I am 100% certain that we will make this new arrangement work, whatever the short-term impact.
The Brexit vote will have important repercussions around the world, and I predict that several things will now happen:
- Ultimately, the EU will collapse. The European political elite have failed to win the hearts and minds of their citizens, and the European experiment is not working; Europe’s citizens will no longer tolerate faceless bureaucrats in Brussels deciding their futures.
- The United Kingdom will re-form into three or four independent countries, with a strong, economically vibrant England separate from a Scotland, Wales and possibly a Northern Ireland that increasingly see themselves as European.
- Donald Trump will be elected President in the United States as the political elite there demonstrate that they are out of the touch with the electorate who will take the plunge and vote to change the system by selecting the populist maverick, rather than the establishment candidate.
Ultimately, I believe that after two years of economic turmoil, Britain could ultimately be better for this result, but it will require a lot of hard work and uncertainty.
The vote is over – it is now time for us to pull together to make this new arrangement with Europe work.
As is often the case, all eyes are on Britain, and the British voters may have created a shock-wave that will pulsate around the world changing the political order and the institutions that control our daily lives.
Exciting times ahead!
