Brexit - My Caribbean Perspective
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Tue 28 Mar 2017 23:59
Many are very happy at the prospect of Brexit and believe that we are “taking back control” from unelected bureaucrats in Brussels - although quite what this means in practice I remain unclear about (and rather fearful). One friend is particularly critical of the European Convention on Human Rights that frustrated the deportation of Abu Hamsar for so long (and he may have a point in that particular case). Annie and I experienced similar sentiment from an American couple in Santa Marta who were equally happy at the election of Donald Trump and fervently believed that individual freedoms taken away by the liberal elite would now be restored. Christian values would once again prevail; there was much more. These are heart felt beliefs and make me realise why it is impossible to discuss these things from an objective, factual, or even rational viewpoint.
However, as they say, we are where we are. We are going to withdraw from the EU but Teresa May is promising us a brighter, more successful and more equal future outside of the EU. I look forward to it.
On one of the Caribbean yachting Facebook sites we picked up a post asking why levels of reported crime against yachts were much higher in the former British islands than in the French. Our perspective is that the French islands are part of France, have much more developed economies, less poverty and a much more equal and integrated society where all colours seem to mix wherever you go. This of course requires significant financial support from Paris. In the former British islands it is very different. The economies are much less developed, infrastructure is poor, poverty is obvious, development is segregated into rich foreign enclaves stimulated by tax avoidance, politics are corrupt. We in the UK should take note. On every measurable social outcome people do better in more equal societies. As has recently been in the news, people live longer in more equal societies and overall levels of crime are lower.
What is extraordinary is that we are withdrawing from the EU without a single policy or strategy in place to enlighten us about this brighter future we have been promised. Where are the policies to redress the north/south divide? Where are the policies to rebalance the economy away from services towards manufacturing, research and development? Where are the policies to ensure the wealthy pay the same proportion of tax as those on PAYE? Where are the policies for infrastructure investment in the north to match that in London and the south east? The fact is there aren’t any and we are on a course of free market economics that is destroying public service and transferring wealth from the public to the private sector. The Scots have seen through all this and may opt out of the UK as a result. I will admire them if they do.
These are emotional issues. If you believe in the ability of the individual to acquire as much wealth as he or she can, to have as little taken away by the state in tax as possible, to fund your own social care needs and to be comfortable about living alongside those who can’t then you will be excited about this move away from Europe. If you believe that everyone is better off in a more equal society with strong public services and that the payment of tax is virtuous you will be less excited. One thing is certain, countries need to work together to make the world a more stable, equal and prosperous place. That is what the EU is all about and levels of public service, economic prosperity and political stability within the EU are at unprecedented levels. It isn’t perfect and several countries have issues but populist isolationism and nationalism is not going to improve things. The UK has taken the lead in promoting just that.
We are seeing the consequences of this transfer of wealth in the Caribbean economies and in the tax haven registered super yachts the great majority of which are flying some variation of the red ensign. They are here in the Galapagos. When these yachts come in I see tax evasion, the ruthless accumulation of personal wealth and social inequality that dwarfs even that between me and most people in the Caribbean.
This is not my preferred direction of travel but there is a belief that we may be in a better position to redress the balance in favour of the majority of the British people outside the EU. I just wish someone could explain to me how this will be and why it has been impossible to create a more balanced and fair economy within EU membership. After all it is what most other EU countries have achieved or are working towards. Teresa May is telling us that the economy will now work for the whole of the country and yet her party has brought us back to levels of economic inequality not seen since the 1920’s; is England ever going to wake up and see through this farce?