In 2016 I argued vehemently in a letter to this ‘esteemed local paper’ that Brexit would be “a jump for freedom” [Wilts and Glos Standard June 16, 2016].

I am not sorry for my support for the Leave Campaign in 2016, but it was wrong.

Those of us who believed in it in 2016 now have to wake up to our mistake.

Not only have changes globally and in Britain since the vote changed my view on Brexit, it has also wrenched me from a once modernist Conservative Party.

I am not sorry for supporting the Leave Campaign in 2016 (I was too young to vote), both because my maturity was questionable and the state of the world and Britain was different.

In June 2016, my view of Britain was one of extreme positivity.

Our economy seemed strong, our position in the world seemed stable.

For me the EU had nothing to do with that.

Meanwhile Europe seemed on fire, the refugee crisis alone was highlighting the intransigence of separate nation-states working within a centralised, united, bureaucratic framework.

Furthermore Greece seemed to be solely surviving on life-support provided through EU and international funding, while France and Germany had their attention drawn in on themselves.

On the outside, the world seemed almost rosy.

America’s economy was gradually recovering and growing since the 2008 crisis; China and India offered increasingly large and lucrative markets; and though Russia had recently annexed Crimea it seemed more invested in involving itself in Syria’s Civil War than developing increased enmity with Western Europe and the USA.

Now all of this was a very NAIVE image of the world’s situation at the time, yet that was what my young eyes perceived and my mind concluded.

From such a viewpoint I do not regret having supported Leave and viewing Brexit as a new opportunity for Britain to elevate itself once more to ever greater heights of prosperity and power.

Towards 2018 my sleepwalking in politics was becoming challenged.

I went off to university and came to confront the realities of our national condition.

The ‘Great’ in ‘Great Britain’ was very much in question let alone our ability to become greater as a nation.

Many of my new uni friends were of BAME (Black and Ethnic Minority) backgrounds and the continued racism and stigma they still received in this day and age jolted me from my slumber.

The numbers of people going to food banks or ending up homeless were no longer in single digits, they were in the thousands.

My early concerns with the Climate Crisis were expanded as I came to truly realise its global proportions and the need for a global rather than simply an isolated national response.

Many of you may deride universities as petri-dishes of left-wing snow flaky idealism, but this ignores the incredible, high-emotion and reason fuelled debates that take place within them.

It was in this intense melting-pot of emotion and reason, with a few drinks to help, that it became clear to me the broken nature of Britain, the falsehoods of Brexit and the realities of the global situation.

Reinforcing this when I returned home in the summer I decided to embark on a new project of completely breaking from my sleepy politics.

I attempted to read a book a week including Richard Dawkins ‘God Delusion’ and Jordan Peterson’s ‘12 Rules for Life’.

It was in the hundreds of pages of the 10 books I was able to consume that the fundamental attributes of humanity and life were drawn out.

Most importantly was REASON, INDIVIDUALITY and COOPERATION.

To any of you who believe that anyone of those three attributes above apply to the motives, process or consequence of Brexit, may want to read a little more.

There are now major crises that we are facing globally including the climate crisis and nuclear war.

These will not be answered locally or nationally.

They will only be truly answered globally.

They will require recognition of individual identities, while also utilising the power of human reason and cooperation.

Brexit provides no such tools, instead it completely throws them out of Britain’s hands.

The vitriol from Brexit helps no one and hurts many.

Calling people ‘stupid woman’ or ‘chicken’ are not words of cooperation or even reason.

Words such as ‘treachery’ or ‘big girl’s blouse’ are no use against melting glaciers and rising sea levels.

They are impotent against the real dangers we face.

Brexit further has allowed inconsistencies and irrationality to be taken as acceptable and part of the dynamism of society.

When media outlets demonise Supreme Court Judges based on their votes as private citizens in the referendum for a judicial judgement, one must wonder how we as a country could have a responsible role in the future of the world.

How could we responsibly deal with highly-sensitive issues such as reducing nuclear proliferation? If we had to get rid of just one Trident Submarine in order to encourage a reduction in nuclear arms across the world, it is foreseeable that this would be branded ‘traitorous’ or a ‘surrender’ by some newspaper columnist.

There is likely to be a recession next year, since both our own economy and the global economy is slowing.

We will need to be resilient and rational in our response.

The Chinese and German economies are also slowing and a global recession will require global action.

This action will have to be ten times more cooperative and rational compared to post-2008.

We will need to move our economies out of recession without utilising masses of carbon-emitting industry and fossil fuel production.

Brexit will be useless in the face of this.

We will have little control over ending up in a recession and even less control over the foreign investment that will turn its back on us.

Nevertheless not to end on a doomy gloomy project fear, which was clearly the ethos I was going for here, I would like to give one final message that should be the beginning to a brighter future.

I call on the many who voted leave to take a step back and take a hard look at the reality of our position today.

I am not asking you to apologise.

It is not about u-turning or maintaining consistency since the referendum.

Realising reality is about the most important attribute of mankind- REASON.

Ask yourself, is this how you envisaged reason to materialise in the world? I hope there is not a long pause before, ‘NO’.

George Richmond,

Chedworth