Dear MP- re. the fraudulent EU referendum

Below is a version of a letter I just sent to my MP about the referendum. You can find out who your MP is here. Feel free to copy/adapt/share and send into your own MP. A very narrow majority in a referendum that should never have been had in the first place and was completely based on lies (from both sides) cannot be what ultimately causes our awesome country to end up in a much worse position than it was before!

Dear MP,

In a democracy we have protection from broken campaign promises by being able to vote out any such liars at the next election. However our protection from broken promises does not apply in the case of a decision to leave the EU as it is an irrevocable decision.

In the days since the EU referendum result emerged it has also emerged that:

1) There is no real intention to leave the single market therefore we will be bound by many of the same EU regulations we are already but a removed ability to have say in how EU regulations are developed.

2) Remaining in the single market means immigration could never be capped or controlled in the way the Leave campaign led people to believe it could be, people have been lied too and voted on the basis of a lie.

3) There is no intention to support the NHS with better funding with money saved from the EU. Again many people voted thinking by voting leave they were saving the NHS.

The EU referendum campaign was built on lies and the British public voted on the basis of those lies. However this is not a decision we can vote again to change in 5 years. These lies are outrageous and the outcome is something that will have far reaching consequences to the huge detriment of the United Kingdom. The referendum result needs to be anulled on the basis of these lies.

We now also have seen the immediate terrible impact the non-binding referendum result has had on the British economy and can expect future serious turmoil to the economy while these plans are set in motion. This was not fully anticipated by many voters and as you know many leave voters are now regretting their decision.

I strongly believe we either need to repeat the referendum with a promise of a strong majority of at least 60% with 75% turnout (as the petition to be debated in parliament) before any decision sets the wheels in motion on a decision that cannot be changed. Or as elected MP’s it is for the Houses of Parliament to decide the results of the referendum are null and void given the exceptionally narrow majority and given it was a campaign based on lies. This option is preferable rather than put the public through the stress of another referendum. This particular referendum should never have been offered in the first place, and only was offered based on back room political wranglings rather than a genuine desire to give the British people a say.

I would like to urgently hear your thoughts on this matter.

Many thanks

Dear Political Baby

Dear Political Baby,

I’m kind of feeling a bit odd about taking you on a pro-choice demo on saturday and I think I need to ponder why.

I guess I did it because I knew the anti-choice lot would mostly likely be using children to make their point (and of course they were- no babies but about 4 or 5 clueless indoctrinated kids holding signs), and so I kind of thought well why not have a baby along to make my point, that my babies were my choice, but that I 100% respected and supported other women’s right to choose, no judgement.

As the anti-choice lot seem to be under the misguided apprehension that pro-choicers are all “heartless baby murderers”- UM we aren’t!, it kind of felt good to unsettle them somewhat with an actual baby on our side of the demo. I felt I needed to make the point that mother’s can be pro-choice too (read Dear Pro Choice Mummy for more info).  As although other demonstrators may have been mothers (I know a few were) it was not immediately obvious, but me I had the perfect accessory- you!

It was interesting having you along with me- I may have been being paranoid but as the only pro-choicer there with a baby (the only child on our side of the demo), the anti-choice lot were subjecting me to some pretty long cold evil looks.

I think with hindsight while I am happy to wear a “Mama for choice” placard- putting the “Baby for choice” placard on you wasn’t really fair. After all I don’t know that you will grow up to respect women’s rights (but I bloody hope you do!), and I do feel strongly that I bring you up to make your own choices about your beliefs and not force my own beliefs down your throat.   I think next time I might give leave off the placard on you.  I think as you and your sister grow up and if I take you on more activist stuff I think I will only let you hold banners/placards if I really genuinely feel you have sufficient understanding of what and why you are holding it, otherwise it feels a bit uncomfortable to me. But I do think bringing you with me on activism stuff is a fantastic learning experience for you as it was for me when I went on the Miner’s strikes etc.

However to be fair, there were other reasons I had to have you with me that day, firstly it wasn’t really fair to leave your daddy looking after both you and your sister, when he does that so often already so I can get some sleep, it was his weekend too and he needed a bit of a rest.  Also as I am breastfeeding you and you are currently bottle refusing again, so I really need to keep you close to me and if you weren’t with me then I couldn’t have gone to the demo at all.  Plus the added HUGE bonus of having you with me in a sling was that while everyone else was shivering away standing in the cold for two hours, I had my own personal hot water bottle. You and I were toasty warm for the whole demo! Yay!

Anyhow my dear political baby.  I hope you enjoyed your very first demo when you are only 15 weeks old, and I hope you will come on more of them with me (although it’s a shame that we are going to need to go on more. :()

I do sort of feel a bit bad about using you to make a political point but I reckon your presence had genuinely significant impact, so I don’t feel too guilty and hope you won’t mind when I tell you about this when you are older.

Lot’s of Love

Your MummyMarchingBootsCurd

P.S Your big sister and daddy made excellent refreshment providers, bringing us biscuits and drinks towards the end of the demo. Yum.