We know that after two years of hard negotiating the best deal the UK has managed to secure is massively worse than the deal we started with.
We know that the UK Prime Minister refuses to entertain any option other than trying to bully MPs to vote for that deal. Despite the fact that 432 of them voted to reject it because it wasn’t actually a deal. It was an arrangement to kick the can down the road for another two years without anything being agreed about the actual long term arrangements for trading with the EU
We know that a British Prime Minister has deliberately chosen to put the country days away from the chaos of no deal in the hope that it will win her last minute support
We know that the Leader of the Opposition in Britain is utterly incapable of launching an effective attack on her because he isn’t actually opposed to Brexit. He is in favour of the fantasy of the better Brexit that he thinks he would have negotiated.
We know that we are days away from chaos at borders and businesses are utterly frustrated.
We know that the arrangements for no deal have been too little and too late and organised in the most shambolic fashion
We know that there is no amount of chaos and confusion the far right won’t inflict on this nation if it helps them to pursue their game of fantasy politics. We know they will never admit that they were wrong and they will always blame the mess on someone else and then ask for something more extreme and more damaging.
We know that Donald Trump is ready, keen and waiting to get us to sign up to a free trade deal with the US that will put our Parliament at the mercy of US corporate lawyers.
We know that Russian agents are laughing as they down their latest round of vodkas to celebrate the ease with which they have succeeded in bringing Britain to its knees
We know that the EU is utterly frustrated by the shambles in Britain and some have begun to believe that it might actually be better to let the UK crash out so that it can get on with making decisions without us. Others still think it will be OK to let the UK sign up to a deal which effectively forces it to follow all the EU rules without making any of them.
We know that the UK hasn’t signed a series of wonderful new trade deals in time for Brexit. Instead that it hasn’t even managed to roll over the existing trade deals the UK had with nations across the world as part of EU. We leave the EU with less trade deals around the world not more.
We know that the nation has lost its international reputation for order and stability
We know that Theresa May has had to write a humiliating begging letter to the EU asking for more time without being able to explain what that time was for. We know that on each previous occasion when she has kicked the can down the road the chaos has become worse not better
We know that Theresa May has failed to use the last two years to fix the neglect of towns and cities like Sunderland, Stoke on Trent and Bradford and that Brexit has taken jobs from Sunderland and Swindon.
We know that farmers are facing major new competition from the US and New Zealand whilst losing tariff free access to their major market and very many of them have changed their mind about Brexit.
We know that opinion polls consistently show the majority of the British people now want to remain in the EU
We know that around a million people will turn up for a rally in London saying that they want us to remain but a march of 20 leavers from Sunderland to London is likely to get equal coverage
We know that the character of our Prime Minister is seriously flawed and that she has no skills of flexibility or adaptability. We also know that days away from leaving she has no workable plan other than asking MPs to vote for something they think is seriously bad for the country and won’t lead to a satisfactory long-term solution.
We don’t know what rights the EU staff working in the NHS will have next month if there is no deal and they still aren’t sorted out long term under May’s deal.
We don’t know what rights UK citizens living in the EU will have to health care next month if there is no deal and they still aren’t sorted out long term under May’s deal
We don’t know how we will staff the NHS without EU workers or how it will cope with an influx of extra elderly people
We don’t know what customs duties or paperwork UK exporters and importers will pay next month
We don’t know where all the lorries are going to park up whilst they wait at borders if there is no deal
We don’t know whether there will be customs duties and paperwork across the Irish border or between NI and the rest of the UK in a few days time.
We do know we were promised it was all going to be so easy.
Since we now know much more than we did when we were asked our opinion on nice politicians’ promises it is only fair to give the public a chance to express its opinions now.
Give us a chance to vote on reality not promises
Put May’s deal, No Deal and No Brexit on a single transferable ballot and hold an election on the same day as a referendum
And put Brexit on hold for six months until we’ve heard from the people
If the British people consciously want this mess then let them vote for it and cope with it. If the majority of the British people don’t like watching their nation humiliated in pursuit of a far right and hard left fantasy then let them say so. Why must the nation be punished today because of the way it voted in a plebiscite nearly 3 years ago.
It is OK for a nation to change your mind. It is not OK for it to be led so incompetently towards disaster.
People’s vote now please.