I voted to remain at the time, mostly for economic reasons, but also from a rather naive belief in the much touted “European values”. At one point I even believed a USE would be a desirable outcome from the EU, as a way to both conclusively break with the endless wars of the past and also as a way to shore up the geopolitical strength of European powers going into the future, as they stand to be otherwise dwarfed by other powers on the world stage, namely America, India and China.

Of course, I’d never counted on institutions like the ECB and who really wore the trousers when it came to controlling the European currency. So long as an unaccountable central bank holds sway over the currency, Europe will remain a fortress for the bourgeoisie. The moment you take a closer look and realise that the inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 was simply a method to push downwards pressure on wages by flooding the internal market with a cheap labour source you finally realise the sad reality of the EU. For all the pretences of progress espoused by EU supporters, they still can’t argue with the reality of a double standard whereby the less developed countries are preyed upon in order to prop up cheap agricultural goods and essential services in the advanced countries.

Brexit is exposing that particular dynamic of the European single market as we speak with Britain’s struggles to provide a labour force to it’s farming barons, as well as sliding ever more precipitously down the drain with the NHS’ ongoing nurse shortage. It is being starved of it’s old source of cheap labour, so now it is clamouring for anything else it can sink it’s teeth into, including the recent pledge to allow 3 million Hong Kongers to settle in the UK in the wake of China’s national security law passing.