The North remembers

So, we’re out. Three words I hoped never to type post-referendum, but that I predicted I would. In many ways, I thought it was obvious that Britain would leave the EU. In fact, the margin was so small it surprised me on every level. I thought it would be massive.

From the off, the Leave campaign has had the advantage. Most remainers will say that’s because of one of many project fears, with concerns like immigration and Turkey coming to the fore. They’re wrong. Oh, no doubt, people have been afraid, and no doubt issues like immigration are easy to blame for economic crises.

But the real reasons that the Remain side lost were because of their own massively elitist attitudes and their absolute complacency. From the outset, most remainers thought they had the upper hand, that they didn’t have to campaign on certain issues because they were ‘obvious’. Well obviously not.

The real reasons that the Remain side lost were because of their own massively elitist attitudes and their absolute complacency

The reason the Remain side didn’t campaign well is painfully clear – they believe, and always will believe, that the electorate are foolish. That the ‘masses’ can’t be trusted and that people from outside London, cities, and Scotland are somehow thick.

One thing I’ve noticed about British people is that they’re stubborn and proud. These are national traits, defining features of a relatively divided nation. If you tell someone British not to do something for a reason like ‘well that’s just silly’, they will do that thing.

The reason the Remain side didn’t campaign well is painfully clear – they believe, and always will believe, that the electorate are foolish

Because why the hell not? Why not prove the person calling you stupid that they’re wrong? There’s a logic there – the only way to not be stupid is to prove that you’re not. And this year, Labour, Remain, everyone with a vague sense of false morality have ridden their high horses with absolute aplomb.

And as soon as Remain got on those high horses, they rode themselves into the ground. Make no mistake – this is a revolution. Not an uproarious revolution, with pitchfork and torch, but an outpouring of voices from the working class, the disenfranchised, the ‘provincials’ (a term that sickens me to the core).

Make no mistake – this is a revolution

The North remembers, and it always will. In this fight, they had a voice and they were given a choice, and they chose the men and women that didn’t talk down to them. Try to persuade them; yes. Try to make them afraid; more than likely. But they didn’t patronise.

Labour betrayed these people from the outset. It was clear that the Labour party wanted to take advantage of a Tory leadership battle, that the upper echelons didn’t get involved at the level they should have. They betrayed the working class they supposedly stand for to take advantage of a situation they never really wanted. The Labour party were utter cowards.

Labour betrayed these people from the outset

Already, the armchair experts are piping up like chicks in nests of sanctimony, desperately parading their own superior morality. They voted Remain because anything else would be moronic, would be racist and xenophobic. Because only old people wanted out, and they’re the only people that matter.

Get over yourselves. You live in a democracy, and in this world that is a privilege – and a massive one at that. The British people were given a choice, and they chose, based upon what they saw before them. If you want to blame someone, look to yourself. Ask if you ever patronised someone, called anyone stupid. If you did, you’re part of the problem.

Get over yourselves. You live in a democracy, and in this world that is a privilege

We have to move forward from here. There’s nowhere else to go, with no Prime Minister, and barely an economy or currency. Getting on with running this country should be our priority, based upon the decision the British people just made.

No petitions for a ‘second referendum’. No cries of ‘this is unfair’ or ‘this isn’t real democracy’, because you’ve lost and you’re feeling petulant or whiny. Get on with it, book up, and keep on going. You have no other chance. But in all seriousness, if you still feel like the majority shouldn’t have voted, in the end, you’re the reason they voted out. You’re at fault. Fuck you.