Can I get a break from politics?

Whether you spent your New Year’s Eve sober with family, or the opposite with friends, not many would choose to start off 2019 debating Brexit. After all, New Year’s Eve is a celebration carried out in most countries, it’s what unites most of the world in a day of celebration. Why ruin it by bringing up something as divisive as Brexit?

In 2016, the UK held a non-binding EU Referendum where, despite the Government’s effort, 51.9% of people voted to leave the EU. The result brought up many concerns regarding fake news, Northern Ireland, and Immigration. All highly divisive topics that split the UK. Decent arguments can be made for both sides and like with many issues there isn’t a clear answer.

Unfortunately, Sadiq Khan, the pro-EU Mayor of London, disagrees as he openly declared the fireworks display to be an attempt to show the world the UK will continue being open minded and hoped that MPs reflect on the sort of country they want to live in post-March. This was followed by a very pro-EU fireworks display with the words ‘London is Open’ being said in 7 European languages. Whether we disagree with the message is irrelevant, what is disturbing is the London Mayors seemingly petty reaction against Brexit by giving into the emerging trend of politicising apolitical topics for political gain. Whether it’s the Simpsons, college students dancing, or YouTube Rewind, politics is infecting everything. Usually this is carried out by corporations who have financial gain from doing this, but this time it is politicians spending our money to express a view we voted against. This not only is a waste of our money, it shows the world how divided we are as a country. Furthermore, it reduces any leverage we have left, and completely ignores the actual issues.

The Brexit referendum was not a failure because of racists, or close mindedness, it failed because of the flaws in pure democracy: fake news, extreme politicians, and a lack of education provided to the people regarding the EU and the referendum. The fact that this referendum took place goes to show how misinformed most politicians and news networks are regarding the views of the people they apparently represent or inform. These are the issues that need to be tackled, and a second referendum would not change anything unless they are addressed.

Khan defended the ‘spectacular’ fireworks display, which cost the majority pro-Brexit public £2.3m, by claiming it was an effective way of showing that London will remain “open-minded” after Brexit. An important message considering the surge in hate crime post-Brexit. However, politicising a firework display wouldn’t change this, after all if political stances were this easy to change Khan might have a higher approval rating. The fact of the matter is this: the people paid London £2.3m to celebrate the start of the new year and this stunt did nothing but show that London is not open-minded, especially to opposing opinions, and ruined what could’ve been a happy start to 2019. Politicians such as Khan need to keep calm and carry on exploring their options. Two of them being: A second referendum, and not following through with the non-binding 2016 vote. But bringing up Brexit in one of the few moments of worldwide celebration is just sad.

That said, it would be a bit naïve for me to take what Khan said at face value. It’s no secret May’s Brexit negotiations resulted in a deal so bad it united both sides of the Brexit debate. In an attempt to woo MPs, before the big vote in Parliament regarding the deal, the Prime Minister used her New Year’s message to talk about this issue. It is reasonable to assume the fireworks display was meant to be the response from the pro-EU side. Though I do find it very hard to believe that firework displays, or open video messages actually change any MP votes and if they do, we really need to question our political system.

As a German citizen Brexit doesn’t scare me. Brexit is unpredictable but if the negotiations showed anything, it’s that the EU has the upper hand and I can rely on it to protect me and my education. Another possible concern is the surges in hate crime post-Brexit. Though the figures are hard to dispute, the cause of this surge is debatable; But even if the cause can be pinned onto Brexit, it wouldn’t be wise to blame Brexit rather than the underlying xenophobic views held by some people.

Whether you agree with Brexit or not, the power struggles within the Government are evident when you see Theresa May’s new year message, the end of year fireworks, or approximately 1 minute of PMQs. But in this time of division let’s not forget who we are: residents of one Kingdom, and people who should be mature enough to put our differences aside to celebrate the start of a new year.

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