When we finally understand what Brexit involves, we'll need a second vote
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I don't know about you but my will to live is slowly draining away due to Brexit.
Just hearing the word, let alone details of the growing incompetence of those supposedly delivering it, makes me nauseous. It’s left me so disorientated that I recently found myself more enthused by Nigel Farage than Jeremy Corbyn .
Farage said it might be a good idea for those who voted for a brick up the Channel Tunnel-style Brexit to demand a second referendum , win it, and kill the debate for good. His ­sidekick Arron Banks agreed.
Meanwhile, Corbyn told us “that ship has sailed” leaving many ­questioning if he was ever on board.
Farage, fearing a backlash, later denied he’d made the call even though he’s on the record. And as someone who voted Remain, but has spent the last 18 months thinking another ­referendum would be as appealing as a rugger boys’ night out with Nigel and Arron, I now agree with him.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
So many lies and so much fear and ignorance about what Brexit meant were spread by both sides at the ­referendum that this country has seemed lost ever since. Its sense of common purpose has gone and it’s slowly losing its marbles.
Europe asks us what we want but our Government can’t tell them because there is no united view, so there is no negotiating position.
A nation that was once admired for resolve and certainty is being mocked as a shambles.
And although many Leavers put that down to the sulking apathy of Remainers, it is really down to a Tory party that is terminally crippled over its view of Britain’s place in the modern world.
So paranoid and weak is Theresa May she won’t even publish her own Government’s analysis which suggests our economy will be worse off ­whatever the Brexit deal, in case the Brextremists try to sack her.
As Anna Soubry pointed out, it is turning into a “battle to the death” in the Tory party, with those wanting a complete break with Europe prepared to take the country down with them.
Usually I’d buy a front-seat ticket to watch Tories kill themselves but I’ve got three kids and their future concerns me far more. So I’d like the two of voting age, like every other UK citizen, to have a say on the final deal.
(Image: Getty)
Britain may have voted for Brexit but until we have an idea what it looks like, how can we know it’s right for us? You don’t look at a secondhand car you fancy online and buy it there and then. You go and see it, kick the wheels, see if the mileage clock has been turned back and then decide.
Since June 2016, it has become clear that what we were asked to vote on was based on lies , fear, guesswork and emotion. When a deal is struck we’ll have a more accurate picture of what Brexit means, risks, challenges, benefits, warts and all.
It’s surely in the interests of every Leave, Remain or Don’t Know voter to take a final, binding decision then.
How about these three options: Accept the deal and leave? Reject it and leave without any deal? Stay in?
Then get on with life, knowing this is the definitive, ­unchallengeable will of the people.
At the very least this might help to stave off the collective nervous breakdown we’re
all currently hurtling towards.