Here’s an important read from Pew Research, citing a new European survey of nearly 10,000 people. It suggests that while few citizens want their country to leave the EU, many would support a vote on their country’s membership. Critically, frustrations remain over handling of economic and refugee issues.

Source: After Brexit, European Views on EU | Pew Research Center

It’s interesting to look at the graphs over time. UK views about Brexit clearly spiked ahead of the Brexit referendum, with nationalist fever whipped up by Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, supported by dogma without evidence.

Clearly, UK views have their parallels in other European countries. But only the UK is dumb enough to pay a huge divorce bill to receive a huge cut in national income, falling real wages and salaries, plus major disruptions in to both trade and skilled labour – industries like financial services and the NHS cannot function without skilled foreign labour, certainly for the short to medium term – meanwhile on the back of excessive austerity, without radical transformation, the public sector is imploding.

The acid test is simple. Ask a Brexit voter again, ‘why did you vote for Brexit’? In my experience, the Brexit voters struggle to answer the question – even challenged that it was about immigration, they refuse. Sadly, the Brexit voters numbers were swelled by working class voters, down on their luck, and envious that their education and skill-base rendered them unable to compete effectively with young, hard-working foreign labour. Ahead of Brexit, Farage, Johnson and Gove were the ‘Pied Pipers’ with a Far-Right populist messages, ignoring evidence, intent on their own power.

Now, of course, the Brexit context has changed. Most Brexit voters are more concerned with falling real wages and salaries, collapsing public services and national security. Theresa May has precipitated an omnicrisis and she does not have the power to redress it. Johnson is in the shadows, ready to make a leadership bid, hoping that he can hoodwink the great British public once again.

But the real difference is Jeremy Corbyn and the Far-Left sponsored Labour Party promising a social revolution but without effective costing and risk analysis. Corbyn’s Labour Party are indifferent to the Brexit negotiations, just focused on bringing the government down by hook or by crook. Corbyn and his army of Monitor supporters are using social media to whip the country into a frenzy – we are already seeing people protesting in the streets of Kensington after the tragic tower block inferno – with a hot summer, violence in the streets could easily be the game-plan of the shadowy Far Left radicals looking to promote revolution. Today’s Pied Piper is Jeremy Corbyn, promoting Far-Left, possibly revolutionary reforms, fanned by false news and populism.

Chose your metaphor, ‘rock and the hard-place’, ‘devil and the deep blue sea’, the UK is in deep trouble – make no mistake this is triggered by Far Right and Far Left activists supporting shadowy leadership and sponsors.

The elephant in the room is that the British people probably have very similar views to their European neighbours.

Unless the Conservative Government is brought down, we must hope for common sense to prevail in Brexit negotiations, providing an effective compromise.

Thoughts?