I fought all my adult life for Britain to quit EU, now it’s job done as Theresa May triggers Article 50, says Douglas Carswell
It's a historic moment as Theresa May triggers the process to leave the EU. After 46 unhappy years inside, by April 2019 we will be out.
EU law will no longer apply. Euro judges will no longer decide things for us. But what about everything else?
We can decide who can come here. 450million EU nationals will no longer have an automatic right to settle.
The government is likely to allow employers to hire EU workers. But only if they pay them a high enough wage so they do not claim tax credits.
Importing cheap labour has meant that for millions of Brits the minimum wage is the maximum wage.
That will end.
We’ll still be part of Europe. Controlling our borders is vital, but so is co-ordinating with other governments to keep one step ahead of the terrorists.
Cooperation does not mean being in the EU. The last people we should put in charge of security and intelligence are the sort of buffoons that have been running the euro.
I’ve campaigned to get us out of the EU all my adult life.
I switched from the Tories to Ukip to help make it happen. I can say: “Job done.” That’s why I’m leaving Ukip. We’ve won. If it was not for us, this would not have happened. We should award ourselves a medal — or perhaps a knighthood.
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I resent the way BBC broadcasters sneered at the result. I hate how they bracket it with the election of Donald Trump — or, heaven help us, the rise of Marine Le Pen in France.
For decades, we have been run by an increasingly remote political elite. People like Tony Blair or David Cameron, the Clintons or Christine Lagarde, George Osborne or Peter Mandelson, with seemingly interchangeable ideas and attitudes.
They squandered yesterday’s money that our grandkids will have to pay in tax tomorrow. They hosed cheap credit at the economy, and called it prosperity. They tanked the banks. And embarked on ill-considered foreign policy adventures.
While they congratulated each other on how clever they were, they failed at the basics of statecraft, like controlling borders or balancing books.
The election of Trump, and the emergence of Le Pen and the rest, are in part a reaction against this self-serving clique.
But these radical populists run the risk of playing into the hands of the elite, as some in Ukip almost did in the EU referendum. Ukip may have mobilised voters — but often it was to vote against us.
We can see how a loony Left government in Greece has made many Greeks welcome rule by the EU troika.
Trump’s talk of “draining the swamp” may discredit for a generation anyone bidding to get to the White House on an anti-Washington ticket. We face a twin threat — rule by a new few on one hand, and an over-the-top, angry populism on the other.
But if public policy is to be made in the interest of the public, I’ve a number of ideas about what we need to do.
We need to give shareholders powers to hold to account managers who help themselves to company revenues.
It’s not left-wing to want those who own capital to control it. It might just rescue capitalism from the crony fat cat corporatism it is becoming.
Those that own banks must be made liable for the deposits of customers, as they were before banksters lobbied for the taxpayer to pick up the bill. Only then will they avoid taking too much risk.
Only the rich have much choice when it comes to healthcare or schools.
We need revolutionary reform giving citizens the right to choose who provides services, while still using taxpayers’ money to fund it.
Brexit might mean a return to the very British idea that our lives should be organised by us, not for us by an elite.
Douglas Carswell is MP for Clacton. His book, Rebel: How to Overthrow the Oligarchy, is published by Head of Zeus.