The 2018 Council Elections Are A Bellwether Regarding Brexit

May 5. 2018

The biggest proponents and cheerleaders of Brexit, Britain's pending exit from the European Union, is the UKIP party. Its former leader, Nigel Farage, has been antagonizing the European Parliament, making xenophobic statements that have not gone over well. Yesterday's council election in England wiped out UKIP. Their party lost 123 seats and retained 3. Those results are positively abysmal.

The vote is a rebuke of UKIP's policies which are now viewed xenophobic. It is also a massive rebuke of Brexit. The British people are finding out the 2016 Brexit vote was not what it appeared. The British economy has lost jobs and investments, due to European Union businesses relocating to EU nations such as Germany and France. The British pound and real estate also lost value. It is triggering a reversal of fortune that British Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the business acumen to mitigate. May is not listening to warnings from British business and it is not in the nation's best interest that she be so inflexible.

The fact of the matter is the EU has been helping to prop up the British economy, in exchange for the £19 billion per month in dues. Politicians such as Farage and the Conservative party's Boris Johnson, who is now Foreign Secretary, encouraged Britons to vote to leave the European Union, stating the country is being exploited. They also made false promises that the Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May, would pump that money into the NHS, schools and benefits for the disabled and poor. However, they British people have received the opposite.

I understand that some of the British public voted to get their sovereignty back, in wanting to leave the European Union. However, leaving the European Union could change the British way of life in a manner that will not be helpful. Scotland wants to leave and join the EU, after the Brexit vote went against their wishes. Northern Ireland and Wales could follow suit. Any of those three departures would negatively impact national revenues and lead to a massive budget cuts. This is on top of the loss of EU business at more favorable rates in the Customs Union and Single Market.

May is behaving badly regarding a "hard Brexit" in demanding Britain's departure from the Customs Union and the Single Market, which provide more favorable trade rates. That's like throwing away billions of pounds in British business profits, as they will have to pay greater tariffs and increased costs to get their goods into the European Union, a trading bloc of 500,000,000 people. That's leaving money on the table.

It is thoughtless of May to act so autocratically without the input of British business. These decisions she is making will not affect her in the business realm. So, she is not taking it into consideration. However, it will impact British business. Parliament recently dealt her a series of blows in this regard, demanding her government negotiate with the European Union on these trade matters.

Previously, May wanted Britain to remain in the European Union. However, once corporate raider and all around scumbag, Rupert Murdoch, got his hooks into her, she became pro-Brexit and has been acting like a bot. Murdoch called Brexit "wonderful." Murdoch does not want the European Union in Britain's business, as they have rules which inhibit his corrupt, criminal behavior in the United Kingdom, where a large chunk of his assets are located. However, Britain can't be run for the benefit of one man.

Murdoch is also a foreigner exhibiting a wanton disregard for the financial welfare and privacy of Britain (illegal wiretapping and phone hacking, commissioned computer hacking and break-ins by hackers and private eyes, the blackmail of politicians and public figures, threats, coercion, conspiracy to defraud, price gouging). Just thinking out loud, it's a shame Britain doesn't send people to the tower anymore.

BBC graphic of the council elections

May has been busy pushing through Brexit and slashing budgets left, right and center, with no thought to human life and it is very alarming. Britain experienced 10,000 more deaths than usual this year, which is being blamed on May's severe budget cuts negatively impacting the National Health Service (NHS) and social programs designed to help the disabled, poor and vulnerable. Britain needs a healthy public in order to thrive in the world. May is clearly not making that connection. If people are sick and struggling, how are they supposed to perform at their best.

May has been bragging in Parliament about budget surpluses, but it came from cutting funding for services the public needs. That's nothing to brag about. She didn't trim the fat. She trimmed the meat too...a lot. NHS under-funding continues to be a problem under May, who is imitating her predecessor, David Cameron, but has taken austerity to deadly extremes. This is leading to many preventable deaths. May has blood on her hands.

Reports indicate more Britons than ever are seeing the doctor less frequently, not receiving medical scanning notices, using food banks and struggling with energy costs, under May's massive budget cuts. Homelessness in Britain has also increased under May's government. These are not good developments. Conservatism is supposed to be about trimming government waste and excess, such as politicians' bloated salaries and fruitless programs not vital to the health and success of the nation. May's austerity is severe and real life damage can be seen from this heartlessness towards the disabled and poor. 

I've always bragged about how Britain takes care of its people. The country has free education, healthcare and medicine, paid for by taxes. If Brits need somewhere to live, they can get reasonable council housing in a very well maintained, picturesque nation. However, May's conduct is undermining so much of the compassion and care associated with the British government. She is operating under a severe disdain for the less fortunate and real people are getting hurt because of it. Those are real lives she's damaging. That has got to change.