A lot has been said about the EU referendum but quite frankly it is beginning to resemble the BBC 1 game show, Would I lie to you? For anyone who has not seen it, celebrity contestants have to bluff about their deepest secrets while the opposing team have to find out which ones are true. And today most politicians are auditioning for their part in the show, while the voters are left deciphering whether they are telling the so called ‘facts’ about the EU referendum.
Everyone is crying out for information to make an informed judgement and yet no one knows who to trust. There are so many conflicting messages from the ‘In’ campaign and ‘Brexit’ about every issue that we are left stuck and moving no further forward than when we first began. It does not matter whether it is immigration, economy, trade, security or sovereignty, there are such deeply divided lines on every subject. We even have front bench politicians admitting they are making judgements because they don’t know the facts. And then we have cross party alliances, from so called enemies, across the front pages to add to good measure. In this immediate day and age, some are left to finding their own information while the large majority don’t bother at all.
(Without following the gameshow theme), for anyone who has seen Family Fortunes, if a player gets an answer wrong there is a distinct sound which goes “ergh – er”. I just wish someone could invent a technology that if ever a politician answers a question in the media with lies, the buzzer would just interrupt them sharply with a loud “ergh-er” or “That is in fact a lie!!” In some ways, I wonder whether just like in court where you have a mistrial that David Cameron announces on June 23rd that there has been a misvote. There was not enough information to make a clear decision your honour! A chance would be a fine thing but there is more hope in this happening than seeing me present #misvote as a newsnight special live from the Houses of Parliament on June 24th.
The serious point is we are now in danger of this debate becoming decided largely on emotion. And that is a precarious place to be. A significant story on immigration or a heinous terrorist attack could easily stoke emotions amongst the public and cause a sharp shift in the way this vote turns out. Furthermore, all the anecdotal evidence is showing the older generations voting out and the younger voting in. But history shows the teens and 20 somethings need to actually show up to the polls first! And this could have a significant sway in proceedings. When all is said and done, if the General Election is anything to go by just 12 months ago, we will be influenced by our wallets and stick with the safe option, which is to remain.
If you do want a succinct view on some of the main issues from both sides, the BBC have two informative destinations worth viewing: