Ahead of the planned National Rejoin March in London on Saturday 28 September, we reflect on Mike Galsworthy’s vision of a more positive future for the UK inside the EU, as told to Jack Peat of The London Economic in a recent interview.
Incontrovertible evidence is mounting almost daily of the damage that the UK’s hard exit from the European Union has caused – and the public is increasingly recognising the extent of this.
A recent You Gov Survey found that, if there were to be another referendum, the UK would vote to rejoin the EU by 59% to 41%. Interestingly, it also identified strong public support for building closer ties with the EU in the immediate future.
We have learnt that to date the cost of Brexit to the UK’s economy has been £140 billion, with more than £300 billion predicted to be wiped off the value of our economy by 2035. That’s an awful lot of “black holes”, Rachel Reeves.
Everybody knows the downsides of Brexit
In almost every sector that you care to mention, Brexit has taken its toll. The UK’s previously thriving cultural industry is struggling in the face of new EU visa and entry rules that make it increasingly expensive and complicated for touring actors and musicians to work in Europe.
Many SMEs that relied on trade with our European partners have been driven out of business, impacted by the rising cost of importing goods from Europe, and the massive growth in the paperwork involved.
We are realising – if we didn’t before – that many of the regulations introduced over the years by the EU were there for a purpose. The “bonfire of red tape” that Brexiters gleefully celebrated as a result of the UK choosing to diverge from EU standards has led directly to a rise in the use of harmful chemicals on farmland and much higher permitted pesticide residues in our food.
To appreciate the full impact of Brexit on every area of life in the UK you have only to visit Yorkshire Bylines’ The Davis Downside Dossier, which lists well over a thousand downsides, growing in number almost daily. It’s a depressing read.
How should we frame our desire to rejoin the EU?
Those tangible impacts are fundamental, but it was the more philosophical and emotional aspects of our relationship with the EU that Mike Galsworthy, chair of the European Movement, drew upon in his recent interview with The London Economic.
He wanted to explore a positive vision of the future that can and will be shared by many on this Saturday’s march: “How should we frame our desire to rejoin the EU? It’s all about principles and people. What are our principles, what are our values as a country and how do we really strengthen that for the future?”
Galsworthy then goes on to try to answer these questions: “In a future where there are the big blocks of competition – the United States, China, India coming along and Europe – those will be the big blocks that determine consumer safety standards, basic fundamental rights, what goes in our food, the safety of our children’s toys, things like that. They will determine how the global markets operate, the style of our democracies and the powers of the big tech companies and much more.”
Where is the model for the future of humanity?
Galsworthy writes: “I can’t see a model for the future of humanity that I like coming out of China, India, or the US where inequality is rampant and social cohesion is so fraught. But I can see it in Europe where you’ve got a multi-polar and complex model of democracy, an example of people working together within a collaborative politics.
“The quality of life in Europe and the happiness indices in the Scandinavian countries attest to that, underpinned by the green investment and the emphasis on improving the health of the population, on investing in better diet, the preservation of heritage and green spaces, and investing in transportation.
“I think the European model aligns with where Brits want to be in terms of our values, of how we treat each other and how we treat the world that we build around ourselves, the quality of life that we try and guarantee for everyone. I want us to be in the team that represents those values, with people who share our outlook and our values.”
Galsworthy believes that the American model is very different: “In the US there are huge populations that are just left on the streets or thrown in prisons or left to rot out in the sticks. That’s not so good. And for me, trying to emulate that, driven by the economic interests of the people at the top, it’s not where we should be going as a country. It’s neither sustainable nor is it a good future for humanity.
“So I do think that on the absolute fundamentals of not just where we want to go as a country, but also where we can help shape the continent that will in turn help to shape humanity in the future, it has to be the European model.”
Truly, deeply working together
Galsworthy’s last thought is related to his training as a scientist. “If you look up at a clear night sky and see all the stars there, you may not realise that you’re looking at an infinitesimally small percentage of the number of stars that exist beyond our own planetary system. There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on this planet.
“We don’t know if there’s other life out there. But if we want to get off our mote of dust and actually be an interplanetary species, the first thing that we need to get a real good grip on is collaboration and working together in teamwork.
“That’s absolutely fundamental for the survival of our species. And where in the world do you see that working best? Where’s the model of how different nations can really come together and work collaboratively? I think post-war Europe is unique. It guaranteed peace and it started to build that notion of humanity, truly, deeply working together.
And that, for me, is the path that I believe we need to be on.”
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