Morning all. Thanks to everyone who made sensible and constructive comments, I’ll reply in order.
You’re probably right AtBattersea, perhaps it doesn’t much matter who told the lies but it will be interesting to see what happens with the investigations into Leave campaign funding and Russian influence don’t you think?
I also partially agree that it’s a combination of people who have succumbed to the relentless anti-EU propaganda in the right wing press over the years and believed the lies and those just wanting to give the government a bloody nose, because, as you say, many feel left behind. However, I think it’s also important to realise that that there are many who perhaps aren’t particularly well informed on the issues and were entirely persuaded to vote leave by the £350m on the side of the bus con. Notwithstanding the fact the number itself is bogus, it’s easy to see why that was such an effective tactic, indeed the very architects of the campaign have credited it with being the reason they won, and they’ve admitted to it being a lie.
I completely agree that it’ll be very difficult to persuade people to change their minds, but I’m not sure it’s a case of persuasion necessarily being required. The xenophobic, Brexit-at-any-cost, ‘we knew what we were voting for’ mob who can’t spell will never be persuaded it’s a bad idea, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence, so there’s no point wasting time with them. However, I think they are a relatively small proportion of leave voters and many, who simply wanted the NHS to get lots more money, seem to be changing their minds now they know it’s simply not true, they won’t get what they voted for and it’ll make them poorer.
There’s probably a natural tendency in human psychology to find it difficult to admit that one’s been duped, a slight feeling of shame I suppose that we’ve been had, so I reckon the challenge is now for remainers to propagate the narrative that no-one should be feeling shame about being lied to, and that there’s absolutely no shame in changing one’s mind when the facts change.
I am going to try and find some in the above category of leave voters and interview them, perhaps for a radio documentary or a comment piece in the local newspaper, so if this applies to you, then please get in touch.
Anyway, there are many reasons for passionate remainers to be cheerful. The Commons vote last week is very important and the fact the government lost will embolden rebels on other parts of the bill. Maybot has realised that she was also going to lose the vote on enshrining the date of departure in the bill, so has completely backed off, another fail for tory brexiteers.
Almost as good though is the latest poll which shows Remain with a ten point lead, which is a significant shift. Many politicians of various hues have always said that they’re open to a vote on the deal if there’s a meaningful change in public opinion, so we just need to keep it moving in that direction.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 14406.html
Don’t give up the fight everyone, it is very much all still to play for….