Red Bus Rubbish

 

If ever you want to understand the utter rubbish we must decipher from Westminster before we make thoughtful decisions on how to vote, the ‘red bus’ that went on tour prior to the Brexit vote sums it up perfectly.

 

You remember that red bus (dubbed the ‘Brexit Battle Bus’)……the one that Boris Johnson took on tour with the slogan “We send the EU £350 million a week – let’s fund our NHS instead”. It was hard hitting. It got the message across. It worked. ‘Leave’ won the referendum. Job done.

 

The problem was, it was complete nonsense……which has now been confirmed by Treasury figures this week that reveal the UK made a total net payment of £8.1 billion for the 12 months to March 2017. This works out as a net payment of £156 million per week to the EU (after rebates and EU payments to the UK’s public sector have been taken into account). £350 million v £156 million. That’s one huge overshoot / lie / fib / misrepresentation / inaccuracy / embellishment / fabrication / distortion (delete as appropriate).  

 

Interestingly, the UK's weekly net contribution to the EU Budget of £156 million is the lowest since 2012.

 

Back to the point though……why has it been simply accepted that it is ok to mislead on such a scale for political gain? Why has nobody been held to account?

 

We have to base our voting decisions on the information and messages we are given……basing our decisions on false facts demeans the power of our vote and makes democracy laughable.

 

For the record, Boris Johnson has been ‘penalised’ for the lie……he has been given one of the top 5 most powerful positions in Government (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs).

 

What a farce.