Rudd Exposes Real Reason for BREXIT?

If the rational reason for Brexit was couched in being exploited by the EU and multinational firms, with no real economic benefits, and monetary savings from the EU's annual membership that amounted to ￡ 17.8 billion annually, that would partly fund the NHS ( UK's National Health Service), that reason may no longer hold true. Amber Rudd, Home Secretary in the UK, might have just exposed the real reason for Brexit. In her Conservative Party Conference speech, she said firms should declare the percentage of foreign workers they employ as part of a drive to employ more local people. While the speech may please and appease the Brexit Leavers, it may attract the hatred and the vitriol of the Remainers. ( 72 % voted for the Referendum and the Leavers : Remainers ratio was 52:48 )

The speech received fierce criticism from the Labour party which said it would “fan the flames of xenophobia and hatred in our communities”.

Radio presenter James O'Brien in a brilliantly imaginative piece of journalism, compared Amber Rudd's speech to Hitler's words in the second chapter of Mein Kampf. After pretending to read a passage from Amber Rudd's speech he then said: “No, that wasn't from Amber Rudd's speech yesterday, I'm really sorry, that's from Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.”

He said "If you're going to have a sharp line of distinction between people born here and people who just work here, you're enacting chapter two of Mein Kempf. Strange times."

The last decade has seen Britain become a highly desired destination for less-skilled European immigrants, thanks to the structure of the U.K.’s economy and its public policies. Most British ( the masses ) have felt threatened by the influx of other European communities with immigration touching a high of Rs 330,000 on an annual basis. ( Unfortunately this is when Theresa May was Home Secretary ). What seems to come through in people's opinions, is the feeling that the government was not creating enough housing, schools or jobs for the British, and the influx of other European communities was creating a shortage. A shortage of houses, jobs and schools for the British.

In the most Eurosceptic areas of the UK like Havering, Peterborough, and Blacknell Forest, which is where immigrants have settled down, Europe doesn’t necessarily mean the world’s most prosperous and peaceful continent. It means a mass influx of Eastern European immigrants across open borders that residents say has transformed these cities beyond measure. 

Source : yougov.com

Many British say they have nothing intrinsically against the immigrants but that hospitals and schools are strained, waiting lists for public housing grow longer, and workers, particularly those with low skills, are being squeezed out of the labor market. 

What is strange is that David Cameron didn't see the immigration backlash coming which may be the biggest shortcoming of his leadership. Perhaps for a number of people in the UK, being part of the EU, only meant more immigrants coming into the UK ; fewer jobs, houses and hospitals for the native British and being exploited by the big multinationals. Even early immigrants like Asians rejected the new East European immigrants. They felt that they had come here to build the country along with the British. But the new immigrants came only with the selfish objective of creating better opportunities than their home country.

Tim Thomas, the director of employment and skills policy at the EEF, reacting to Amber Rudd's speech said “The object, it seems, is to shame those employers with a proportion of non-UK workers above some hypothetic and arbitrary level. Workers, whether UK, EU or global contribute greatly to UK industry and should be welcomed and not regarded as a simple statistic.”

Amber Rudd's speech unfortunately may only harden how the EU sees the UK post Brexit. Angela Merkel who has shown a balanced opinion on the UK post Brexit, has already aggressively stepped up her rhetoric. Merkel appealed to German firms to show a united front with EU governments in negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union.

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