By a 6-point margin, British voters favor ending membership in the political-economic union, only two months ahead of the June 23 referendum.
A recent public opinion poll of likely British voters found that 45% favor terminating the country’s EU membership, while 39% favor maintaining membership in the EU.
As the referendum campaign heats up, Loud & Clear’s Brian Becker sat down with Alex Gordon, the former president of Britain’s Transportation Union and a leader of the left-wing coalition advocating for Britain to exit the European Union – the Lexit.
Who is it that supports Britain leaving the EU?
“The perception that is carefully cultivated by the mainstream media, including the BBC, the Guardian, and other important newspapers in Britain, is that those who oppose the EU are rightwing nationalists,” explained Gordon. “It is a classic example of manipulating the narrative and the terms of the debate.”
“When you look at the film from 1975, you see the Labour Party favored Britain exiting the EEC for socialist reasons and they characterized the EEC as a business club – the European NAFTA,” explained Gordon. “What we also see in 1975 is that the campaign for Britain to remain in the EEC was led by Margaret Thatcher who became the notorious Tory Prime Minister who flew the flag for neoliberal economics along with America’s Ronald Reagan.”
“This argument, that those who want to leave the European Union are rightwing fanatics, is a very recent and fairly artificial construct,” said Gordon. The former union leader finds it unlikely that the British people will be swayed by the talking point come June.
