Dear Kate
I am not going to rehearse our disagreements over Brexit here. We both know where we stand. However, I would like to know how you plan to vote on today’s motion before the House on No Deal.
It is not my practice to reduce political questions to my personal circumstances. But on this occasion I think they may illustrate a situation that faces thousands of people in this country including in Vauxhall.
I have just taken delivery of a biological drug for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease. It is the latest in a family of very expensive, innovative drugs which have enabled me to get back involved in political activity after over a decade of being virtually housebound. It is manufactured in Belgium. It requires continuous refrigeration.
I am awaiting a delivery of medical appliances and related equipment without which I cannot function. They are made in Denmark and other European countries. I was worried enough to contact the company who provide them. They told me that they had purchased additional warehouse space (at what cost to the NHS/taxpayer?). That didn’t really reassure me.
I haven’t dared look at the country of origin of the multiple pills I take every morning.
My needs are minor compared to others. But it is alarming that I should even have to worry about whether I will be able to function if the UK leaves the EU without arrangements in place to guarantee the seamless provision and delivery of vital medical supplies.
I have read that you think stories such as this are unnecessarily alarmist. That the disruption of No Deal is a price worth paying.
I do hope that is not your view.
The idea that you could support the dismantling of 40 years of integrated manufacturing, commerce and trade without coherent plans and agreements being in place is incomprehensible to me. Especially when it is in the hands of the most right-wing and inept Tory government of the post-war years. Especially when we lose more than we gain. I believe in a socialist transformation of society. That could well cause disruption. We used to joke in my youth about the necessity of guaranteeing beer supplies come the revolution. But socialism’s aim is to benefit us all; not enrich the few. It’s to extend our rights and liberties; not remove our right to travel, study, work, live, and love across our neighbouring continent. Brexit is the antithesis of socialism and internationalism.
I know you argue that the result of the referendum has to be implemented; that it was a democratic exercise and decision. But nobody ever suggested during the referendum campaign that there would be No Deal, no civilised arrangements for leaving the EU. Nobody even whispered that the smooth delivery of medical supplies could be affected – that wasn’t on the side of that bus.
Democracy is not a static concept. If it was we would only ever have one election and that would be that. Maybe another one a generation or two later? That sounds a bit like Spain, where there was a general election in 1936 and then not another until 1977. The Chartists argued for annual elections. It’s hardly revolutionary, let alone anti-democratic, to argue that the people might want to have another think, have another say, now they have more information on what that first binary decision means in practice.
I look forward to hearing from you confirming that you will be voting to rule out No Deal today, and that you will be supporting Labour’s policy, including supporting steps for a public vote to stop no deal or a damaging Tory Brexit.
Yours
Joan
Joan Twelves 