‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. When I moved to the UK, I saw this country for what it was: a place of world class universities, exceptional heath care system and a well-functioning parliamentary democracy.
However, Brexit has fundamentally and negatively altered Britain: it has become obsessed with immigration, exhibits the sheer willingness to economically self-destruct itself and is oblivious to the plight of the voiceless in society.
From 2010 to 2016, Britain has rolled down a steep hill like a gigantic snowball. Unlike a gigantic snowball, however, there were multiple opportunities to repeatedly halt doomed course of actions.
Due to self-imposed and unnecessarily harsh austerity policies, public services have been driven towards a crippling situation. Add to this the completely unwarranted immigration policies and you get a very dark and grim picture of Britain’s public affairs because of the acute labour shortages in schools and hospitals.
Austerity and anti-immigration sentiments have vehemently damaged the unity of the United Kingdom. The perception that public funds are scarce pitted the haves against the have-nots, ‘natives’ against immigrants; one public institution against another; the North against the South; and Remainers against Leavers.
If you thought that this couldn’t get any worse, then just look at the damage the Brexit referendum has already inflicted. In fact, Brexit is the last nail in the coffin of the greatness of Great Britain. Brexit has multiplied and intensified the damage caused by the Conservative government’s unnecessary tight grip on the public purse and a completely stupid promise of wanting to bring down immigration under 100,000 per year.
You have just got look at the figures to understand today’s grim, grey and gloomy reality. The NHS was already facing staff and financial problems because of austerity and tighter immigration controls, but Brexit has exacerbated it.
Schools were already under financial pressure and Brexit worsened the situation because teachers from European Union countries are refusing to come here. Universities were previously struggling to attract students from outside the EU because of reformed border policies; but, they are now also facing the same problem from within the EU.
A number of solutions have been proposed to tackle this downward trajectory. However, only one plan has the capacity to deal with both the reasons that led to Leave’s victory in 2016 and Brexit itself.
People who say that stopping Brexit will put everything else in order are completely wrong, illogical and impractical. The vote for Brexit is a symptom of the perverse effects previous policies have had. Stopping Brexit would just be one step in a very, very, very long journey.
Others who argue that Brexit should go ahead because it’s time consuming and is distracting policy makers from real issues such as homelessness, insufficient housing and long-waiting lists for hospital appointments are also immensely incorrect.
Yes, it’s true: Brexit is time consuming and an enormous distraction. But the right way to deal with it is not to simply accept it – that would be completely irresponsible because it would cause a knock-on effect on the problems that urgently need solving.
Just look at the money that has already been invested in preparing for Brexit. These are huge sums of money that could have instead been invested into tackling homelessness, create more affordable housing and improve the National Health Service.
Based on this doom and gloom (as well as the contradictory proposals), comprehensive set of policies are required to reverse the self-imposed downhill trajectory. A set of policies that will allocate more funding for public services, support a evidence based immigration policy and cancel Brexit – or at least advocate for the softest version of it.
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Muhammed Raza Hussain is an award-winning writer: he is the Extra-Mile winner of the News Quest Young Reporter Scheme 2014 and received a certificate for Talent for Writing by Young Writers. Twitter @MuhammedRaza786 | Instagram: M.Raza.H_ Facebook: @MRazaHOfficial
