10 years on since the Brexit Referendum: Time is Now for Truth
Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
23 June 2016- the day that changed everything, the day that lies, cheats, deceit, dishonesty, hatred,...triumphed over trust, accountability, truth, cooperation, peace, harmony, and hope. A day that plunged our nation into darkness, hopelessness, division and separation, drifted us towards a stormy sea in a little boat with no oars and no arms, no friends and no neighbors.
10 years on and the timeless question is: Can a referendum based on the most damaging and consequential lies and dishonestly remain valid? Should lies and dishonesty, with total disregard for truth and integrity, with intention to deceive, cheat, and mislead citizens/ voters to act against their own interest not be a crime in public life?
Just stop and think for a moment: What will happen if lying by politicians, if lying in public office, for private/personal gains, becomes a norm in the larger society, in all our personal encounters and relationships with each other? Would you like to live in a country like that, when you can trust nobody?
And last but not the least, as a result of Brexit, we lost the right to live, work, study, or retire across the entire 27 member states of the European Union, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Today, we need an ETIAS travel authorisation, then waiting in long tedious, humiliating queues, answering questions after questions about the purpose of our visit, our finances and more. Finally, being fingerprinted and photographed and our passport stamped, and off we go for a few days of sunshine, spending all our beautiful British Pounds in countries that we did not want to have anything to do with!!
Righting Wrongs
Today, 23 June 2026, should be the day for our nation to courageously stand for truth and declare Brexit 2016 null and void
Brexit has been a disaster – it’s time the guilty men felt some shame
Michael Heseltine is correct: it’s time to right the wrongs of Brexit
I broke the news of Brexit to Britain – 10 years on, we still haven’t seen a single benefit
BREXIT: When England Betrayed Churchill
‘Why Are Our Politicians So Crap?’ The rise and fall of Britain’s political class
Britain is a swamp of lies and disinformation – and we got here on the Brexit bus
We must never forget who voted for Brexit and why
Who made Britain so unequal, poverty stricken, divided, hopeless, angry and antagonistic, feeling wronged, frustrated, or threatened by ‘others’? Was it the European Union, or was it Cameron and Osborne and their inhumane economic policies and the disgusting austerity?
Brexit vote explained: poverty, low skills and lack of opportunities
The Broken Economic Model and the Inhumanity of the Lost Decade of Austerity
How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi: A case study in self-sabotage
'The leave vote in June 2016 left fractures across UK society, from manufacturing to migration.'
Brexit and the UK left the Union: Nigel Farage, then leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), declared the EU “finished” and “dead”. Ha ha ha! I wonder who has the last laugh now!!
A Selection from the Long List of Brexit Lies:
‘If the alphabet was 1,000 letters long, you’d still have no trouble filling it from start to finish with the lies of Brexit. No other topic in our nation’s history has inspired so many untruths.’-Here's an A to Z list of Brexit lies
‘The Leave camp promised us all a unicorn and now claim they merely hinted at the possibility of a pony.’-Helen Lewis, a staff writer at the Atlantic and former deputy editor at the New Statesman.
John Major saw the lies of Brexit – and told us
‘On 5 June 2016, the former Conservative Prime Minister appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show and accused the Leave campaign of being “fundamentally dishonest” and “verging on the squalid.”
'He warned that the public was being fed “a whole galaxy of inaccurate and frankly untrue information.”-Continue to read
Mad Boris-The Chief Lier and the most untrustworthy
Photo:Brexit: a totally mad day
'Independence’ and the Lies of Brexit
(See more on lies and their consequences: So, They Got Their Brexit Done!)
'The moral philosopher Harry G Frankfurt’s book on dishonesty offers a valuable insight into the Johnsonian bullshit mindset pushing for Brexit'
Brexit: A Referendum based on Bullshit!
A clear example of bullshit: The NHS Brexit Bus
Photo credit: Matt Cardy / Getty Images
NHS £350million: a supreme example of misrepresentation of truth, a total Bullshit
(The £350 Million NHS Claim: The Vote Leave campaign prominently displayed a slogan on its tour bus claiming the UK sent £350 million a week to the EU, suggesting this money could instead fund the National Health Service. It is now 10 years since Britain’s ‘Independence Day’ and look at the state of the NHS today!!)
…‘I have read a short book by a renowned American moral philosopher, Harry G Frankfurt, entitled On Bullshit. Frankfurt examines the distinction between humbug – “deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying” – and outright lying; he sees his third category, bullshit, as “a lack of connection to a concern with truth”. It is “this indifference to how things really are” that he regards as “the essence of bullshit”.
This seems to capture Johnson – bullshitter extraordinaire – and the entire Brexit tribe. They displayed a distinct lack of connection to a concern with the truth during the referendum; and they very definitely affect indifference to how things really are as the Brexit chickens come home to roost…’ William Keegan, the Observer's senior economics commentator
Brexit: A View from a good Neighbour
'Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom, " Nigel Farage boasted this morning. Dream on. The truth is that the shocking decision of the UK to leave the European Union, genuinely bewildering to its friends and allies across the Irish Sea and the continent, will leave the kingdom neither independent nor united. It will be poorer, more isolated and less influential.
‘Our neighbours have inflicted a deep wound on their country, economically and politically. And they may well have set in train its disintegration as Scotland and Northern Ireland demand that their expressed preferences be respected. They have dealt a seismic blow to the long-term viability of the EU – around Europe the forces of euroscepticism and xenophobia have received a perhaps irresistible boost. They have also almost certainly plunged not only themselves but Europe into recession – the swift and sudden response of the markets bodes ill…’-Irish Times view: Brexit a bewildering act of self-harm
…’ the biggest casualties of Brexit are in plain sight. Integrity and decency in public life are crumbling. Because so much of the case for Brexit is false, the political modus operandi of the Brexiters, now dominating our political culture, has become a refusal to accept responsibility for mistakes, overclaiming, deceit and sometimes outright lies to justify the unjustifiable. Once the electorate can no longer trust what they are told, democratic debate is denied. We have been robbed of a core right of citizenship…’Will Hutton, commentator, and co-chair of the Purposeful Company, Sunday 27 Jun 2021
Number 1 Lesson of Brexit
Peace and Prosperity: An Essential Partnership for Nations
‘As social unrest and political tensions increase worldwide, the importance of peace has never been more evident. Peace is a critical driver of economic stability and national security, directly influencing the wellbeing and prosperity of citizens and shaping the future of nations.’-Vision of Humanity
The Foundations of Peace and Prosperity
If you want peace and harmony at home, reduce poverty and increase prosperity for more
If you want peace and harmony abroad, reduce poverty and increase prosperity for more
If you want peace and harmony between nations, reduce poverty and increase prosperity for more
This is the lesson of Brexit, Lest we forget
Brexit vote explained: poverty, low skills and lack of opportunities
…’many local authorities that recorded some of the strongest support for Brexit are struggling areas where average incomes, education and skill levels are low and there are few opportunities to get ahead. Authorities that recorded some of the highest levels of support for Brexit include the working-class communities of Castle Point, Great Yarmouth, Mansfield, Ashfield, Stoke-on-Trent, and Doncaster. In such communities the types of opportunities and life experiences contrast sharply with those in areas that are filled with more affluent, highly-educated, and diverse populations, which gave some of the strongest support to remaining in the EU, such as Islington, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Oxford and Richmond upon Thames…’-Continue to read
People who felt marginalised drove Brexit vote, study finds
Brexit, before and after: A selected readings
Illustration by Matt Pritchett (signing as "Hack")
How Brexit has made Britain poorer – in charts
Britain’s economy has been damaged by Brexit.
Brexit cost 6% of UK economy, Bank of England company data suggests
Brexit 'major influence' in racism and hate crime rise
It’s time to rethink Brexit
In 2016 anger triumphed over hope, darkness over light
Now 10 years later we must rise to the challenge
When the time comes, hope must triumph over anger, light over darkness
Righting Wrongs
Today, 23 June 2026 should the day to courageously stand for truth and declare Brexit 2016 null and void
Lessons of the 2016 Referendum
BREXIT Broke My Heart: The Moment that the Milk of Human Kindness Went Sour and Lumpy
I failed to stop Brexit, but I could do my bit to make my country a better place