BREXIT was an issue that utterly dominated UK politics for the latter half of the 2010s.
The questions of whether the UK should stay or leave the bloc of European nations was only ever a surface level issue. The referendum and ensuing political chaos exposed deep divides across the nation and brought out some ugly resentments.
The issue of Brexit brought down two of the three most recent UK Prime Ministers from within their own party. Since the departures of Cameron and May, Boris Johnson has completely transformed his party into the party of Brexit, sidelining the once sizeable Europhile wing of the Tory party.
On the other side of the aisle, the Labour Party was also brought into disarray by the issue. Many longstanding Labour voting seats had overwhelmingly backed a leave vote in 2016 – despite the majority of Labour MPs being staunchly pro-Remain.
It was Labour’s pledge to hold a second referendum on the final Brexit deal – with the option of remaining if it were rejected – that likely sealed their fate for electoral catastrophe in 2019.
In the apocalyptic era of Covid-19, the rise of the Brexit issue seems like a distant memory. The UK has now severed its ties with the bloc, and neither of the major parties are advocating rejoining at the present moment in time…
Redaction Report is excited to announce the first ever Redaction Debate, which we aim to hold later this month.
The topic of the debate will be: Should the United Kingdom rejoin the European Union.
Arguing in favour will be the leader of the Rejoin EU Party Richard Hewison – who recently ran for London Mayor and finished eighth out of 20. His party also unsuccessfully contested the London Assembly elections, the Chesham and Amersham by-election and the Batley and Spen by-election.
Redaction Report‘s own Declan Carey will be speaking in opposition. He is a journalist and a long-standing regular on our show, most recently joining our co-editor James Moules to discuss the North-South divide in the UK back in April.
The debate will include a questions and answers session, in which the moderator will read out questions submitted by our readers and viewers. If you have a question on the topic of EU membership that you want to put to Richard and Declan, please submit it to redaction_news@protonmail.com
To keep up with our other video content and future debates, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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Redaction Report 
Without fail.
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I have asked many…and I mean many Brexiteers to name five things where the EU had a negative effect on their lives financially on a day to day basis. I could never get a reply so I then asked ‘Why then did you vote leave’ . The answers were unintelligible and when pressed they couldn’t really answer at all. Really speaking they were carried along by the jingoistic fervor being stoked up by the ERG and right wingers.
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Of course The UK should rejoin and will when the time is right. Once the magnitude of the folly of Brexit finally sinks in. Might take 20 years or so.
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Well I don’t know about you but I haven’t got 20 years to wait !
I think after all the extension periods are over the reality will really bite and we will begin talks to rejoin within three years !
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Its a no brainer, yes of course we should rejoin as soon as possible
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Undoubtedly! It’s been a travesty, right from the word ‘referendum’.
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Yes, the British economy needs it.
Also there would be no necessity for the Northern Ireland protocol.
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Common sense
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Yes we should work towards rejoining the EU. However we must recognise, and I think remedy the many political weaknesses that led to Brexit and the present situation. My questions, why are such a large section of the British media allowed to misinform the public so drastically? Why also are politicians allowed to mislead the electorate? Why is even the PM allowed to lie to parliament and yet no other politicians can point out in forthright terms that he is lying?
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Of course we should re-join. For the average tax-paying regular Briton the losses from Brexit are patently obvious and the benefits invisible. The Tories are defying democracy, decency, welfare and the law; diminishing our Nation into a minor European oligarchy; and denying all criticism as partisan propaganda. All reasonable ambitions of economic and social equity have been dismissed as irrelevant ideals whilst they wallow in the cream of their dismissive self-indulgent ejaculations!
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Of course!!
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Yes! In history, it will be remembered as the worst political and economic decision Britain has ever made. Our future lies with Europe whether our present political leaders like it or not! We will struggle to grow and develop without political, economic and social integration with Europe.
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Ye of course, if they’ll have us!
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Brexit is self harm to the UK and all who are now trapped by their British passport.
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes! As soon as possible. Brexit has a devastating impact on the freedoms of the people of Britain it limits the chances of young people and it destroys perfectly good medium to small companies who rely on trading with customers in the EU. Brexit is destroying large sectors of commerce in Britain it has impacted science and the arts. It is destroying a profitable service and finance sector and what’s more, it has polarised Britain. It has destroyed sensible and responsible politics and made Britain look inward and more right-wing. Brexit is causing the Union of the Kingdom to break and England and Wales will become backwaters of Europe. Currently, Britain is becoming poorer. Britain, as a member of the EU, was third on the affluent country list. Now, after Brexit, it is number six and slowly going down. Britain is currently seen as the poor sick man of Europe just as it was in 1975. Never before have so many people in Britain lived under the bread line as today and never before has the child poverty levels been so high. People in Britain have been lied to in 2016 and are still lied to today. Brexit was a rich man’s fancy and internal struggle in the Tory party that is still going on today. It is a fight between extremist right-wingers and more moderate Tory party members and the people of Britain are paying dearly for this selfish grandstanding behaviour. Rejoin the EU and in 3 years time, Britain will be cured. British people must learn not to vote for the party that led the country to the edge of financial and social devastation. Britain is currently run by people who believe in disaster capitalism as that is how they make their fortune. Asset stip and move on not caring about the consequences as that is for the other guy to worry about. The poor and vulnerable. The people who have everything to lose including their lives.
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I can’t believe the number of people who still support Brexit. Especially when they see the price hikes in Supermarkets and the empty shelves because of problems now with bringing supply into the country and also driver shortage. But of course “we have food banks now ” as one doylem was heard to say!!!!!
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Absolutely yes! I feel so angry about leaving! Everything is worse, as expected, the world has shrunk considerably! Utter stupidity!
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I can’t believe the number of people who still support Brexit. Especially when they see the price hikes in Supermarkets and the empty shelves because of problems now with bringing supply into the country and also driver shortage. But of course “we have food banks now ” as one doylem was heard to say!!!!!
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The issue of the UK’s membership of the EU is too complex to be reduced to a binary question. We elect MPs to Parliament to resolve these complex issues for us. The 2016 referendum was an abdication of responsibility in pursuit of a narrow political objective for David Cameron. We now have to deal with the unintended consequences.
It would be a mistake to conduct a new campaign by once again treating EU membership as a binary issue. The current right wing of the Conservatives have successfully weaponised that argument, ensuring that the detail will always be overlooked in favour of simple slogans that are as emotive as they are misleading.
Campaigning should be about policies designed to improve the prospects of the majority. If those policies include elements of closer integration with the EU this should be an incidental side effect, not the justification.
A higher priority should be to reform our voting system to move away from First Past the Post so that extreme minorities can no longer manipulate matters to impose their will on the majority. Good Governance relies on the executive acting with honesty, integrity and competence in the best interests of the majority. We are vulnerable to those who gain power yet do not possess these qualities. A more proportional system of election will provide some protection against this.
A voting system that allows people to vote for something rather than second guessing how others will vote will lead to greater public engagement. A more stable system will make the UK a more attractive partner in future international negotiations. We need to get our house in order and let that take us in a direction truly accepted by the majority.
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Definitely the UK should rejoin the EU. I think most of the people now realise that they were lied to, and their lives are worse since leaving. Their children and grandchildren will be sorely affected into the future. The country has been stripped bare of opportunity and human rights.
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Yes, of course but it’ll be years. Especially with a party named as such. It’s not particularly subtle and will set hairs raising even among those who voted to stay in the EU.
Focus should be on getting Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland back into the EU. The legalities of severing ties with England putting a tangible exit plan in front on England’s government.
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Yes, the sooner the better! I was heartbroken at the result of the “advisory” referendum, and still feel the same way.
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Yes, without a doubt and without delay. The whole Brexit project was predicated on a lie, and the damage being done to livelihoods, trade, rights, ability to travel and international relations is appalling. The architects of this lunacy, Johnson, Gove, Cummings and Farage need to be held to account ,shamed and punished.
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