We’re very good in Britain at making fun of things. We mock, we scorn – and then we move on. Satire has become safe. But this year has got to be the year we stop mocking the European Union and start the process of leaving it.
Take almost any of the core challenges facing the working class and you see the hand of the EU, from pensions and transport to the ludicrous requirement to register doctors and nurses who can’t speak English. The EU’s free movement of capital and labour is killing Britain.
There’s one good clause in the Lisbon Treaty – the one saying how countries can leave the EU. Let’s give the notice of intent it talks about, and start planning a life for our country and our class free of Brussels and the Single Market. It’s just 16.5 per cent of world trade, anyway (2009 figures). There’s a whole world out there for Britain to trade with: in truth, nothing to lose and a world to win. ■