Brexit - Triggering Article 50

Acting on the 'will of the people' or the 27% of the UK population voting to leave the EU in an advisory referendum, the UK government has now triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, initiating a 2 year period of negotiations between the UK government and the European Union. Several Parliamentary Select Committees have taken evidence and issued reports that raise numerous and compelling concerns on the UK exiting the EU. White papers were produced by the Scottish and Welsh Governments modelling the impacts of Brexit on their respective countries and unsurprisingly brexit would have negative impacts. Under pressure from Parliament the UK Government produced a Brexit white paper  that provided no clarity and the BBC commented on one glaring error -

"The slip perhaps reflects a possible rush to publish the White Paper with metadata on the file suggesting it was still being worked on at 04:15 GMT.stated."

The Scottish Parliament has now voted for another Independence referendum with an ambition to stay within the EU. I can't say that I blame them.

I am still none the wiser on any potential benefit of the UK exiting the EU except for an alarming claim that the UK could turn into the worlds largest tax haven and deregulated financial centre. Nonetheless the UK electorate continue to align with the 'populist rhetoric' of right wing individuals and an agenda set by a right wing press. The glimmer of hope is that Article 50 is revocable if the 'will of the people' changes.

The silver lining to the brexit cloud may be the environmental benefits, as the UK farming industry unfettered from EU market protectionism will be exposed to WTO rules, which in simple terms means there could be a large surplus of uneconomical agricultural land that can be restored for nature.

BREXIT

I was surprised to wake up on Friday and discover that 17.4 Million voters out of 46.5 Million registered UK voters had voted to leave the European Union and as a result the United Kingdom has democratically decided to leave the European Union.  The media has reported that a high percentage of people aged 65+ years voted to Leave. A large number of 16 and 17 year olds were ineligible to vote.

Coverage of the referendum by the media was in my opinion abject, what amounted to some very dubious claims made by both sides were not exposed for what they were and significant questions were not addressed. I cannot recollect any discussion on the Environment.

In lieu of any sense from the media, I read and watched some of the UK Parliament Treasury Select Committee hearings where questions were put to the protagonists from Remain and Leave campaign and also from independents.

The questions put to the Campaign Director of Vote Leave and responses given were insightful and alarming.

The Chairman of Vote Leave was very keen not to appear before the Select Committee

Another prominent Vote Leave member was taken to task on spurious claims

I voted to Remain as although the European Union is not perfect by any means, it seemed a wiser choice than the case presented by individuals of the Vote Leave campaign.