Brexit a tough sell even for Guyanese

Dec 07, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,

Reference is made to Y Sam’s “The Brexit Deal and the British Appeal” in which the writer says come Dec 11, Britain will officially exit the EU. Not so fast. It is a tough sell.
I was in London last week studying the issue. Dec 11 is the date of the vote; it is not clear that the parliament will vote in favor of the agreement that Prime Minister Theresa May made with her European counterparts. Right now, she does not have the numbers. Her position as Pm is tenuous. If she loses, and it looks like she may lose, she could be forced out of office. The divorce from Europe is turning out to be very difficult and costly. Guyanese and well-to-do Indian Britons say the latest proposal by Mrs. May has given the EU too much over Brexit. They won’t mind to see her go.
I visited the United Kingdom to test public opinion on the issue of Brexit, an issue critical to Guyanese and Caribbean Britons and other immigrant groups (like the large Indian community) settled in the United Kingdom. The association of the UK (Britain) with the European Union (EU) since 1971 has been on the minds of immigrant Britons – somehow believing that their tax dollars are subsidizing the rest of Europe and reducing their quality of life (taking money from them and giving to Europeans). Evidence does not fully substantiate this view.
Shockingly, when I visited England in 2015 and 2016, I was taken aback by the amount of support for Brexit among (more well to do) Guyanese, other Caribbean, and Indian Britons. Several Indian Members of Parliament and community leaders and immigrant politicians (from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean) led the charge in favor of Brexit in the referendum in 2016 — large percentage of Guyanese and Asian Indians supported Brexit. The Labor Party largely opposed Brexit while the Conservative Party was divided on the issue. More Guyanese support Labor than Conservative. The outcome of Brexit vote was close almost 52-48. The defeat in the Brexit vote forced the Prime Minister David Cameron (who opposed Brexit) to resign leading to Theresa May becoming Prime Minister.
If a referendum were to be held now on Brexit, opponents would pull off a narrow victory as many who did not vote in 2016 would vote now against Brexit; young people are worried about jobs and rising prices. But of those who voted in 2016, opinions did not change much in 2017 when I was in England or last week in my revisit. As I travel around England over the last week conversing with Guyanese, other Caribbean people, other immigrants, and indigent UK nationals about the pace of implementing Brexit, opinions have not changed much from the narrow victory of the referendum held in 2016 in favor of UK exiting the European Union.
As we all know by now, Gina Singh Miller, a Guyanese, daughter of former Attorney General Doodnauth Singh, has led the battle against a hard Brexit. She took the government to court in 2016 after the Brexit vote arguing that since Parliament approved the treaty in 1971 with the European Union, then Parliament must first give consent to invoke a divorce from the EU. The Court agreed with her and parliament has given its assent to break from EU.
Gina Miller is a household name in UK and cause célèbre against hard Brexit. She campaigned in the 2017 general elections and raised funds for candidates who support a soft Brexit. Her endorsed candidates did very well defeating several hard Brexit candidates and denying Prime Minister Theresa May a majority in parliament. Ms. May depends on right wing ultra nationalist MPs for political survival. Her government may not last the year over her Brexit proposal that was negotiated with the EU last week. She is trying to sell it to her Conservative Party with almost a third of her MPs opposed to it. Even her cabinet is divided on the issue. Several resigned and others plan to resign. But she also picked up key endorsements. It is a tough sell.
Yours truly,
V Bisram

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