Forget the empty slogans – Out campaigners already finding the reality of Brexit is losing control

The biggest lie told by the Leave campaign was the slogan itself, “Take Back Control”. It may have sounded good but, since the referendum, the entire opposite has happened. Those who promised control have lost control. Farage dispatched, Boris destroyed, Gove morphed from cabinet minister to sideline eccentric. The prime minister who created the referendum has been destroyed by it.

If we try and look on the bright side, it seems that house prices in the south are likely to fall, but this is for entirely the wrong reasons. Prices are high because we haven’t built enough houses. If prices are about to fall, it will be because the economy has gone down the pan. House prices in Scotland have been stagnant for ten years, not because they have good policy, but because the economy is lifeless and the population is in decline.

If Brexit were to cause more houses to be built then it would be wonderful,  but capitalism lives on fear. The shares of the house builders have fallen by 30-40 per cent. In response they have put new projects on hold. With the country going into recession, this hold might last for the next couple of years, which would be disastrous to the supply of new housing.

“Take Back Control” was a seductive slogan, because it suggested that our problems are caused by someone else. If only we could shake off these foreign shackles, we’d be free to fix our own problems.

This is utter nonsense. We are not shackled by the European Union. It’s true that immigration is an issue, but it was John Major and Tony Blair who fought for the membership of the eastern European countries, so the EU immigration problem was created by us, rather than imposed by others.

Some people argue that the fall of the pound on the foreign exchange will be good for our exports. This may be true, but it also means that prices on food, fuel and other imported goods become more expensive. Since few people have been getting a pay rise lately, inflation will simply erode wages. In effect this means a wage cut through the back door, for the whole country.  With this wage cut, we have less money to spend in the shops, so the plunge in consumer spending makes the recession longer and deeper.

None of this is an example of taking back control. All of it looks like we’re out of control.

To be in control, we would have to have a clear idea of where we want to take the country and clear plan of how to get there. Do we want an end to free movement of people, at a cost of less free trade? This is a simple question that should be simply answered, if we were in control. But if we can’t control our own plans, if we don’t even know what we want, then how can we possibly have control in any future negotiations?

The true slogan of the Leave campaign should not have been “Take Back Control”. It should have been “Lose Control”.