Brexit Blues? Time to move on

By: Amatare Peregba, 21 year old college student. Twitter: @calvincasino

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Last week at the referendum day, I voted for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU). Then I watched the referendum results coverage on BBC News and I stayed up until around 2am. The leave votes were winning unexpectedly then I woke up at 3am & it showed the remain & leave votes were neck and neck.

I saw the UKIP leader Nigel Farage, making the speech as he knew the leave were going to win the referendum then I switched off the television and I went back to sleep.

4 hours later in the morning, I woke up and my little brother told me that the results were that we, the British people, had officially voted to leave the European Union. I read the news notifications on my smartphone that said the Prime Minister David Cameron had resigned and the pounds had gone down, causing a huge economic panic to Europe & the rest of the world.

The European leaders & world leaders were shocked and upset that the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the EU. Since then at the weekend there are young people of my age protesting and claiming that they “did not vote at the polling stations”. If that is the reason, what were they doing on polling day? Plus the young people from 18 to 24 mostly voted for remain while the older generation (65+) voted out so I don’t understand we the public are hearing the youth who are students did not vote while the other young people like me did voted at the polling stations.

As for the 2nd referendum? We all have the Brexit blues last Friday and the petition was increasing so much with the 4m signatures but I will say: There won’t be another EU referendum!!

I am not saying just to upset anyone who are reading this article. We have to understand why we are voted out of the EU as we have to respect the results and move on. I am not trying to dissuade anyone from signing the petition online. It is your choice & your views if you want the 2nd referendum but I am afraid it will not happen. It is highly unlikely

Now that the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland voted to leave the EU, we have not automatically left the EU yet. There are still lots of things to do and we would have to wait for the New Prime Minister to start negotiating with the EU ministers & European leaders of the 27 member states with the article 50 paperwork. That will last two years until we are out of there completely by sometime 2018 or early 2019.

There will be uncertainty as Brexit could cause the potential breakup of the UK (NI Ireland & Scotland voted to remain) and can result in harassment & bullying regardless of who you are, EU nationals working & living in the UK, British citizens living & working in European nations (& Spain)

Also our passports would have to be changed to remove “European Union” and EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) cards might not be valid for us anymore.

In meantime, let’s stop worrying about the Brexit results and enjoy life. Don’t let Brexit affect your lives. The referendums are not like general elections. Every 5 years, there will always be another chance to vote against the government you don’t like. For referendum it’s different.

Direct democracy is where citizens vote for one political topic based on political issue such as transport, health, education, voting, etc. It doesn’t have to be based on the politics of division. It mean people can have their say on one political key issue.

For those who want the 2nd referendum, there has to be two possibilities. One, MPs would have to block the Brexit process in the parliament or two, call for another general election.

I study at the college which is funded by European Social Fund (ESF). If Brexit happens then my college would have to find the provider to keep funding the education in FE (Further Education) colleges.

For me in my opinion, I don’t see it happening. Sometimes we have to be positive and move on especially the results we don’t expect, we can be disappointed and feel unhappy and sad but there is life after Brexit so please if you still feeling unhappy about the results, be positive, relax and move on already.