My Poor Country

My Poor Country

I am English but will shortly be applying for French citizenship. The reason is simply that I plan to spend the rest of my life living in France and the Brexit decision means that I will need French citizenship to have full rights here. The delay in my application is because on the 14th of September I will have been living in France, full-time, for 10 years which means that under French law I have a right to stay, but not necessarily full rights as a French citizen. An application before that date could put my right to stay in question, so I shall delay my application until the 14th of September. I have every reason to hope that my application will be successful but no right to claim that it will be. So be it.

I am, or have been, quite proud to be British and have never thought about acquiring a dual nationality before now. Necessity now dictates that. And now, for the first time, I am having to ask myself if I really want to be British (even though I may be able to be both British and French). I have lived in Britain, England to be more precise, for most of my life and have loved being in England. Why should I have any doubts now?

My doubts arise not simply because of the Brexit referendum result but also the follow-up. Successive polls from numerous sources have shown a swing in public opinion away from the referendum result but not by a wide margin. The swing would be enough to reverse the referendum result but only by a margin similar to that which created the result. With daily evidence being revealed that leaving the EU will do Britain economic harm (the precise degree to be debated), why is this so? Why would people continue to vote to be worse of, when most elections in Britain hinge on control of the economy, the expectation that the new government will make people better off, or at least no worse off?

It all seems to me to come down to the fundamental issue of immigration; and ignorance. In all the polls, the rôle of immigrants features as a major issue and is seen as negative despite numerous similar investigations also showing immigrants as not only being positive with respect to the economy but, indeed, essential to it. So, in that respect, popular opinion is in conflict with the facts. There is also the fact that analyses of the referendum voting shows that some 75% of those who voted Remain had continued their education beyond the age of 16. They had brains enough, and used them, to see that the emotionally appealing slogans of «getting my country back» and «taking control» lacked all reasonable content. A similar percentage of people under the age of 26 voted Remain, understandably concerned about the economic consequences of Brexit and their job prospects.

It is therefore difficult to come to any conclusion other than that the referendum result was a victory for xenophobia and ignorance. Anecdotal evidence around the polls tends only to confirm that. Reasons given for continuing to back Brexit in the face of mounting negative economic evidence, if not simply unreasoned repetition of the empty slogans, tend to be xenophobic or outrightly racist. And the steep rise in race-related crimes recorded in the last year only underlines that. The difficult question for me, whether or not I achieve dual nationality, is do I want to be associated with a country currently ruled by xenophobia and ignorance? What is certain is that Britain will be poorer as a result of Bexit, as 70% of MPs declared before the referendum. What is also certain is that in my extremely limited capacity I shall oppose in any way I can the course on which Britain is currently embarked.