Should we stay or should we go?

We were driving around the countryside this weekend, admiring the cows and the sheep in the rainy/sunny weather, dotting the English countryside. Every once in a while, a trailer with the words “Vote leave! X” or “Vote remain! X” appeared. On an informal counting, it looked like remain marginally outweighed the leave trailers, although it looked like the remain trailers all appeared to be on adjacent plots and might have been suspect.

This is, of course, about the Brexit referendum that English voters will be shuffling to the balloting booths to vote about whether to leave the European Union, or to remain. It is a curious question, and seems to be one that only troubles certain countries – Denmark and the UK being two that have opted out of the euro. This European linkup was always going to be troublesome, as it is within living memory that the continent was torn apart in two world wars. It is not easy to reconcile the partners when such a large collection of diverse people get together. But it has worked, however creakily, so far. We fight, there are disagreements, but hopefully it  is better than every country having to work out trade agreements with countries like the US as a solitary entity.

Throwing away more than 40 years of entente cordial because you don’t like Europe telling you what to do seems to me a bit churlish. Yes, the UK’s a net contributor, but there is a lot of benefit to staying in the EU.  I worry that British farmers will lose out (particularly in places like Wales, which has benefited from EU programmes and funding), as EU contributions grind to a halt after a Brexit. There has not been enough information offered as to how leaving will make a difference to processors that have to complete on a global stage – will there be tariffs for those outside the EU for trade into it?

So many questions, and not enough answers. I think we could probably revisit Brexit, if necessary, but in the meantime, sticking with what we’ve got seems a sensible option, imho.