I have been thinking about the Bremain campaign today.
I’m not going to comment on whether we should stay in the EU or leave because I’m still undecided. But the Bremain team has a fairly fundamental problem.
The Problem With The EU
In theory, the EU is a great idea. We should be stronger together.
But there are too many countries in it. And those countries aren’t similar enough in terms of their economies, cultures and so on.
That means we can never agree on anything substantial. The poorer countries are never going to agree to a reduction in their subsidies and the richer countries are never going to agree to an increase in their contributions, for instance.
The Brexit Campaign
The Brexit argument is fairly straightforward. The EU is not working, so we’d be better off paddling our own canoe.
So the Brexit team can put forward a positive message because they can talk about how rubbish things are at the moment and how much better things will be if we leave.
The Bremain Campaign
The Bremain argument is also fairly straightforward. The EU is not working, but if we leave it will be worse.
So the Bremain team can only really put forward a negative message. If we vote to remain as they want us to, things will be bad. That’s a bit like a battered wife deciding to stay with her abusive husband because by doing so, at least she’s not homeless.
It’s not even as if the Bremain team can say that they’ll be able to improve the EU if we stay in because David Cameron’s already done all of the negotiating that he can and if we vote to stay in we can no longer threaten to leave so we’ve lost our main bargaining tool.
It’s difficult to see how you can sell the Bremain campaign message other than as Project Fear.
HasBeenThinking... 
Nah the brexit campaign is the real project fear. It is all about the fear someone is pulling a fast one on the UK, that the UK is being held back. It is run by collection of wheeler dealers who seem to think they can leave the EU, ditch the bits they do not like and keep the bits they do like. It is very much like the SNPs Yes campaign.
LikeLike
I don’t think either side is making a particularly good argument, really. But Michael Gove has started to put out a positive message. He’s not really backed that up with facts, but at least it’s a feel-good factor for those that agree with Brexit.
The Bremain campaign doesn’t have that option, because the best they can say is that if we decide to remain in it’ll be horrible but it won’t be as horrible as it would if we decided to leave. Their hands are a bit tied, really.
LikeLike
It isn’t horrible in the EU unless you are a wheeler dealer spiv who objects to being told they can’t nake a profit polluting the environment or exploting your workers. The EU is the first step on the way to a peacful and harmonous world.
LikeLike
I’m not convinced that there will be much change to human rights, employment rights or environmental legislation in the event of Brexit. There will probably be a few tweaks but we’re not going to reintroduce slavery and legalise fly tipping 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person