{"id":2813,"date":"2016-06-21T00:14:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T00:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.macnovel.org.uk\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2016-06-21T10:02:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T10:02:00","slug":"why-im-voting-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macnovel.org.uk\/?p=2813","title":{"rendered":"Why I’m Voting Remain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Haddenham<\/a>
Haddenham Village Green, June 2016, No Murders As Yet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In some ways the novel featured in this blog could be interpreted as a love letter to this country. Much of it is set in the England of shady country lanes lined with cottage gardens and of thatched pubs on village greens serving real ale under indomitable oak trees.<\/p>\n

If you have a strange feeling you\u2019ve seen the village idyll in the photo above somewhere before then it\u2019s because you probably have. I took it on Haddenham village green a couple of weeks ago. It\u2019s a village a few miles from where I live which is frequently used for film and TV. It\u2019s a staple location for Midsomer Murders<\/em>, which is phenomenally popular abroad \u2013 apparently the most popular TV programme in Sweden.<\/p>\n

This is the vision of this country we export to the world. It\u2019s peaceful, gentle and tolerant. It\u2019s the inspiration for The Shire in The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, Constable paintings and Thomas Hardy novels. Generations have treasured the romance of the British landscape and the values it represents. And it still exists.<\/p>\n

Alongside that bucolic version of England, the novel also celebrates the vital, ever changing cosmopolitan buzz of London and our other major cities \u2013 the likes of Shoreditch, Hackney Wick and Digbeth. These are places where the fabric of the area is transformed into a permanent arts festival (see the photo I recently took just off Brick Lane below \u2013 the artist who painted the famous crane is Roa \u2013 a Belgian).<\/p>\n

\"Artists<\/a>
Artists at Work, Hanbury Street, Brick Lane, May 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This type of amazing street art, which is renewed on an almost daily basis, is merely the visible manifestation of a culture that attracts young, creative innovators from around the world. They bring an amazing energy that powers initiatives from web start-ups and craft beer breweries. One industry where Britain punches way above its weight is the creative industry.<\/p>\n

Both contrasting visions of Britain complement each other \u2013 in fact, they depend on each other. Creativity benefits from a bedrock of tolerance and stability. Traditional Britain is prevented from becoming stale, insular and inward-looking.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the two principal characters in the novel view Britain from these different perspectives. \u00a0Despite his flair for cooking inventive, internationally inspired food, James is as solidly British as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.<\/p>\n

Kim views the country through the eyes of an outsider. A passionately Anglophile German, she is more fluent and accurate in English than most native speakers. In common with other young Europeans she views the Second World War as something out of her school history books but nevertheless she immensely respects Britain\u2019s pivotal role in creating the peaceful, civilised Europe of the post-war era.<\/p>\n

She adores English eccentricity, humour and imagination — and she falls deeply in love with an Englishman who symbolises all the values she admires about this country \u2013 values that were celebrated with such unforgettable verve during the London 2012 Olympics (about which there are many posts on this blog<\/a>).<\/p>\n

While remaining a proud German, she sees views herself principally as a European and a Londoner. One of the questions asked in the novel is where will she decide to call home.<\/p>\n

The country in my novel is something to be immensely proud of. However, I\u2019m fearful that after this week\u2019s EU referendum, my novel might need to be re-categorised as historical fiction \u2013 as the start of L.P. Hartley\u2019s The Go-Between<\/em> famously says: \u2018The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.\u2019<\/p>\n

if you want only to read about writing and the novel and itself then stop here \u2013 or possibly skip to the final paragraph or two.<\/p>\n

\"Ewan<\/a>
Ewan Mitchell Remain Poster (http:\/\/www.strongerin.co.uk\/art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, as the setting and characters demonstrate, questions of national identity thrown up by the referendum strike at fundamental themes in the novel.<\/p>\n

I rarely comment on politics on this blog, nor in normal circumstance would I want to bang on about my views. I\u2019m extremely interested in politics but my views aren\u2019t extreme. However, aspects of the way this referendum campaign has been conducted have made me angry enough to write the following long blog post. And if you have the patience to wade through it you might discover, if you\u2019re interested, something about the life experiences on which I\u2019ve partly based my views on the referendum.<\/p>\n

My sole previous political blog post was written way back in January 2013 on the same EU referendum subject. My views on the referendum itself have barely changed from those I expressed in that entry, which was prompted by David Cameron\u2019s announcement of what must have seemed at the time to be a clever wheeze to give him an easy life in parliament. Read it here<\/a>. Much of it has turned out to be quite prescient, particularly when I anticipated the tone of the debate.<\/p>\n

However, I don\u2019t think I expected to be so depressed by the shrill and personal tone of this EU referendum debate. Most fundamentally, it seems very un-British. Lying, mud-slinging, personally insulting opponents rather than discussing arguments have no place in the Britain that I\u2019ve grown up in and written about with fondness.\u00a0 The repugnant tone, which seems to have its roots in the poisonous atmosphere of US politics, is hopefully an aberration \u2013 a mass neurosis like the 2011 riots that will pass and be buried in history.<\/p>\n

Cameron has gambled badly, trying to present himself as both a Euro sceptic and a pragmatic Europhile and has allowed the Leave campaign the opportunity to present the EU as the source of virtually every problem the country faces.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Remain campaign has pushed a negative narrow economic message about the risks of leaving, rather than the benefits of staying, which has allowed its opponents to label genuine concerns as \u2018Project Fear\u2019. \u00a0Jeremy Corbyn could have done a much better job of explaining the benefits that the EU has introduced for employees (holiday pay for one thing).<\/p>\n

While the EU is by no means perfect, it’s not responsible for\u00a0the extraordinary catalogue of misery that its detractors claim.<\/p>\n

If this was a referendum with a question that would allow us to opt out from the brutal, economic insecurity caused by globalisation and the capricious power of global capital then I would certainly be campaigning to leave. The novel starts with James rejecting the pointlessness of his job, which merely seems to shift vast sums of money from account to account in a multi-national bank.<\/p>\n

Several years after the economic turmoil of 2007-8, many in this country people still justifiably feel disenfranchised and disadvantaged. And I\u2019ve been one of them. I suffered redundancy as a result of the credit crunch and I know what it feels like to have dependants to support and a mortgage to pay \u2013 and no foreseeable source of income.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s this experience but I wouldn\u2019t want my vote to increase the likelihood of putting anyone else in that position (if that\u2019s what I judged the consequences might be).<\/p>\n

\"Tacita<\/a>
Tacita Dean Remain Poster (http:\/\/www.strongerin.co.uk\/art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I respect and share many of the genuine concerns that have attracted people to some of the arguments put forward by the Leave camp. But in almost all of these cases I have not seen any convincing plans or evidence that walking out of the EU into the unknown will do anything to solve these concerns. In fact, the likelihood is that the UK would be in a worse position after leaving the EU with respect to most of them.<\/p>\n

Even the issue of immigration, which I agree that mainstream political parties have ineffectively addressed, is unlikely to be addressed by leaving the EU. We can\u2019t change the geography that places us twenty miles across the channel. As for the idea we have open borders with the EU, the last few times I\u2019ve driven to Europe (I last went in April), I\u2019ve had my car searched inside and out for stowaways and the passport checks on the UK side have been extremely thorough.<\/p>\n

Although I have an MBA, which means I\u2019ve had some education in economics, finance and the way businesses operate, I wouldn\u2019t claim to know much at all about the workings of international trade deals and negotiations. But because I don\u2019t, I\u2019ve read extensively about the pros and cons of EU membership.<\/p>\n

I would particularly recommend The Economist\u2019s<\/em> very balanced coverage. They have a free downloadable 20-page PDF guide on their website<\/a> which contains a wealth of impartial data. Unlike most of the national papers that have come out on the Leave side, The Economist<\/em> is independent of any influence from a proprietor.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, despite the magazine\u2019s editorial stance usually being sympathetic to the liberal, free-trade wing of the Tories who are campaigning for Brexit, they are unequivocal that the UK should remain. \u00a0One of their columnists predicts the consequences of implementing the many contradictory claims made by the Leave campaign<\/a> would be disastrous both for Boris Johnson and company and the country:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be fatal for their careers, and for the reputation of British politics in general, if they follow the economically sensible course only to face a huge outcry from nativist voters who feel that all those promises on immigration have been betrayed again. Even aside from the economic consequences of a Leave vote (and read this LSE demolition of the Brexit case), the immediate future for Britain could be very ugly indeed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I could write hundreds of blog posts further expanding on my views on the referendum and the conduct of the campaign \u2013 and I may well do in the next few weeks. However, I want to present a largely positive case for why I believe Remain is by far the most desirable outcome.<\/p>\n

In my previous blog post I described how I worked for many years travelling extensively in Europe representing the interests of the UK division of a large multi-national company to its German owners and I describe the often tortuous process involved.<\/p>\n

The Germans may have been autocratic and slow to make decisions but their business made more money than the UK’s and German profits probably kept the UK division in business in certain years. And it\u2019s my experience of negotiating with Germans that makes me sceptical that they\u2019d make the UK a generous leaving settlement. But we cooperated and made it work. I couldn’t have done that job if I’d needed to apply for a visa for every 19-hour long day I worked when I flew on a day trip to Europe.<\/p>\n

Despite our many differences, I made some great friends of decent, friendly Europeans of all nationalities. And we shouldn\u2019t underestimate the importance and influence of the English as the business language of Europe. It gives us a natural advantage as mediators and conciliators.<\/p>\n

I love travelling to Europe. I love experiencing European culture. As a British tourist, I also like the convenience of the Euro. However, I was sceptical about the UK joining the single currency (as I believe that financial and political policy are too inextricably linked). But we\u2019re out of the Euro and can never be forced to be part of it. Fact. (Ironically, the most plausible way that the UK would end up in the Euro would be to leave the EU and then to be forced to accept the currency as price of being readmitted if everything went disastrously wrong.)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t love the EU as an institution. Some of its officials appear almost as insufferably arrogant as the UK politicians who have been most vocal in the referendum debate. The EU should have made far more of a positive case about how it values the UK as a member (but then it would have been shouted down for \u2018interference\u2019).<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s economic dominance is also a potential concern. Chancellor Merkel didn\u2019t consider the consequences for other EU countries in last year\u2019s asylum seeker crisis. But the UK is an essential counterweight to Germany inside the EU.<\/p>\n

The decision making process may be sclerotic and opaque. The ability of national parliaments to veto major decisions makes the process slow but it also means that the UK can veto the Leave campaign\u2019s apocalyptic visions of a European army or Turkey\u2019s accession.<\/p>\n

The EU is far from perfect. But they\u2019re our neighbours. We will need to live alongside Europe whatever the referendum decision. Having suffered from inconsiderate neighbours myself, I know how preferable it is to compromise in order to coexist peacefully. As A.A. Gill\u2019s brilliant article in last week\u2019s Sunday Times <\/em>magazine said, leaving the EU on the unrealistically rosy terms painted by the Leave campaign would be like trying to negotiate a divorce with your ex that still entitled you to have sex every weekend.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked in central government and have seen the EU\u2019s influence for myself. For three years in the last government I worked in the HQ of the Ministry of Justice in Petty France, Westminster. I shared lifts with Ken Clarke and listened to Chris Grayling\u2019s droning staff addresses. I worked alongside senior civil servants. I was involved with prisons, H.M. Courts and Tribunal Service and electronic tagging among other areas \u2013 exactly the things the tabloids say we\u2019ve lost control over.<\/p>\n

I visited the UK Supreme Court, the Royal Courts of Justice, the Law Commission and met the people who literally write the laws of the land (they have special software to do it).<\/p>\n

How much meddling by unelected EU bureaucrats did I encounter? None. My work was seen by ministers and senior judges. No one from the EU had any involvement whatsoever. In a department of maybe a hundred people, one person did a part-time role in which she travelled to Brussels occasionally to inform them about what we were doing. That was it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps there are other areas of the Ministry and the legal system where there\u2019s more EU influence but of the areas where I have first-hand experience, the EU influence was negligible. Don\u2019t believe what you read in the papers.<\/p>\n

A decade or two ago, claims of an incipient European super-state might have been more credible. But the UK has opted out of the two most fundamental aspects of EU integration.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not in the Euro and we\u2019re not part of the Schengen passport-free agreement. The UK hasn\u2019t been ordered around and humiliated. It\u2019s achieved extremely significant concessions and I\u2019d anticipate this is the way the EU will evolve \u2013 an inner core of the Eurozone with the remainder in a looser federation. If the debate was more honest, I believe many Leave voters would realise we don\u2019t need to \u201ctake back control\u201d because we never lost it in the first place. Nor is there any prospect of doing so.<\/p>\n

Unlike the majority of voters, I\u2019ve also lived outside the EU. I\u2019ve spent almost a year each living in both Australia and the US. There was a huge amount of red tape involved in obtaining visas, social security numbers, driving licences and so on to live in the US. California was a wonderful place to live but you wouldn\u2019t want to be ill there without any health insurance. One of the many underrated virtues of EU membership is the reciprocal free health cover in all member states.<\/p>\n

One of the many unknowns about leaving the EU would be what happens to such benefits enjoyed by ex-pats. The NHS would be faced with the biggest crisis in its history if hundreds of thousands of pensioners returned from Spain because they were no longer entitled to free Spanish health care at exactly the same time the EU nationals who form a large part of the NHS work force would be leaving — voluntarily or not. The Spanish prime minister has said ending reciprocal healthcare is a possibility. It’s certainly something that would have to be negotiated.<\/p>\n

While I\u2019ve had considerable experience of other countries and cultures, I\u2019ve always had a deep-seated, possibly irrational belief, that this country is the best place in the world to live and that to call yourself British is something to be proud of \u2013 that, on balance, we\u2019ve contributed hugely to what\u2019s good in the world \u2013 culturally, diplomatically, scientifically, artistically and in so many other spheres. When I hear the opening of Vaughan Williams\u2019 Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus<\/em>, which is based on timeless British folk melodies, I feel a connection with the country deep in my core that seems to reach back centuries (listen below).<\/p>\n