The British Isles has a very long history within Europe, some good, some not so good, rightly or wrongly, the British people voted to leave the EU, something they had never voted to join in the first place. There will be those that will cite the referendum vote that took the UK into the EEU, but the EEU was not and is not the EU, that should have been a new referendum with all the facts.

However, we must acknolwedge the the referendum vote was not really a conclusive victory, lets look at the stats.

Choice	Votes	%
Leave the European Union	17,410,742	51.89
Remain a member of the European Union	16,141,241	48.11
Valid votes	33,551,983	99.92
Invalid or blank votes	25,359	0.08
Total votes	33,577,342	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	46,500,001	72.21
Source: Electoral Commission[6]

Voter turnout and vote results for the 2016 Referendum on EU membership.

As can be seen here, the win was marginal, the “win” was only by 3.78%, or 1,269,223 of the cast votes, with more than 10.5 million voters choosing not to vote, this may have been apathy, resignation that their ‘side’ in the debate would win, but if only a few more percent of people had turned out, the vote could have been vastly different.

The UK is now outside the EU, but the divorce was mishandled by all parties involved, the EU, despite claims refuting it, clearly wanted to punish the UK as a warning to other nations where there is apathy to EU membership, but whilst the EU has its many failings, there are good reasons why we should not have burnt that bridge in quite the way that was done in the final agreement – the shambolic situation between Eire and Ulster is a clear indicator of that – all about hubris and ego than workable and practicable solutions.

British Democracy believe we need to relook at all agreements with the EU, not necessarilly to undo them, but make them easier for both British and EU companies and citizens to operate, the red tape is simply ridiculous and benefits no-one. Free and unrestricted travel for holders of passports of Britain and EU states needs to be addressed, of course we need to have national security, but that does not mean we have to thow the baby out with the bath water. Not an easy thing to address, but there are solutions that can be worked out with clear heads and common sense – hubris and ego need to be left at the door.

The same applies to trade, the EU is a big trading partner for the British Isles, we should be making trade easier and freer, not harder, costlier and exasperating, Britain could have put measures in place to allay EU concerns over illegal entry of goods to the EU via Britain, but everyone just stamped their feet, backed into corners and then shafted business, both here in Britain and in the EU – utterly ridiculous and singly failing in the job they were elected to do.

There are solutions that work for everyone without hubris and ego, we simnply need to have adult and joined up conversations on how we can work together to achieve it – people in Britain need to be told the truth, not political soundbites, they need to have all the facts, good and bad, and they need their voice heard in matters, as these are pretty damned important and impact the whole nation – Education is the key.

In the longer term, we would wish to see the British Federation join the EU in a way that is of benefit to the PEOPLE and not the politicians – that will be a big ask, but we firmly believe that with real communication, by giving the people the cold hard facts then the case can be put to the people for them to decide. What that relationship with the EU would look like is open to discussion, but it must be one of tacit co-operation, combined efforts where we align (terrorism, Human traffiking and other such security topics) and agreements that allow the citizens of Europe and these wonderful islands we all call home freedom of movement without compromising security.